


Super Smash Bros Brawl: Subspace Emissary

by YourLadyStar



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Gen, Novelization, all the characters from brawl are in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 33,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7031344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourLadyStar/pseuds/YourLadyStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world connecting all these famous icons is normally a land of peace. But when a mysterious force threatens them and their entire world, they must all put their differences aside to stop this force from destroying everything they hold dear. Currently in progress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stadium

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this novelization for a while, and I swore to myself that I would finish it, since there are hardly any finished novelizations of this story.

In the midst of a desolate plain, a grand stadium stood. And within the stadium, a massive audience resided. They were bustling, energetic, excited, highly anticipating the battle that was about to take place. Among the audience, high within the stands, two lovely regal princesses sat. Zelda of Hyrule and Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. The two looked out at the large, expansive crowd with gleeful smiles on their faces.

"It seems like we have everyone here. The stadium is full," The Hylian princess looked over to the princess next to her.

"And a good thing too, here they come!"

As the two princesses looked up, they saw the competitors drop in, within their trophy forms. As they landed on the stage, they restored and revealed the fighters. The red clad plumber of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, and the lovable pink superstar of Dreamland, Kirby. The two waved to the crowd before facing each other.

"Ready Kirby?"

Kirby nodded and got into his fighting stance, along with Mario.

"Mario V.S Kirby!" They heard the familiar voice of the announcer, "Ready? GO!"

The two were immediately on each other, each trading blow for blow, hammer, swords, fire and water mixing into the pure hand to hand combat. And the crowd was practically eating it up. They were on fire and mixed chants of "Mario!" and "Kirby!" were split between the audience. The two princesses couldn't help but be amused by the intensity of the audience, but they were incredibly focused on the battle. Mario and Kirby were matching each other in strength and agility, so there wasn't any clear cut winner. But that just made the fight all the more interesting.

However, unknown to the princesses, there was one more person watching the match. But he wasn't in the audience. But rather, high above it.

High within the sky, deep within a shroud of clouds, was a temple that very few people knew about. It was the home of the Goddess of Light, Palutena. Within the temple, in a large dimly lit room, was a young angel who was looking into a large pot of flowing water that allowed them to look at the world below. The young angel, clad in white and gold clothing with white feathered wings that were soft to the touch, was named Pit and it was through this pot that he was able to see the battle between Mario and Kirby. Being the captain of Palutena's army and having a love for action, he wasn't able to keep his arms from flailing about, imagining himself in the heated battle. Even his wings gave an occasional flap as he imagined himself dodging the attacks and maneuvering his way through the battle. He even gave a flinch when he saw Kirby land a painful looking blow to Mario's stomach.

"That's going to leave one heck of a mark."

Shaking that off, he continued to watch and enjoy himself

Back on the ground, Kirby saw an opening and took advantage of it. He swung his hammer and hit Mario with such powerful force he was sent sky high. That hit proved to be all he could take, as when he landed back on the stage, he was in his trophied form. Kirby walked over to the trophied Mario and touched the golden base, restoring him. The good thing about being restored from your trophied form is that the pain from the finishing blow goes away almost instantly. Because of this, Marion was able to shake the pain off like it was nothing.

Marion looked at Kirby with a proud smile, "Great job Kirby!"

Kirby smiled, offering one of his stubby arms to Mario, to which he gladly grabbed and the two shook hands. The crowd erupted into cheers as the two fighters waved out to them.

But the celebration was cut abruptly short when they looked into the sky.

A mass of dark red clouds started to slowly creep in above them, and from the clouds a large ship came out. A ship that looked to be heavily fortified and had a design that was all too familiar to Kirby.

Kirby called out to Mario as the two looked up into the sky, "What is it Kirby?" Kirby explained to him, "Hmm? You know whose ship that is?"

The ship eventually stationed itself above the stadium, where a large door on the underside of the ship opened and released a large mass of strange purple spores onto the stadium. At first the spores seemed harmless, but they began to form together. They created several humanoid creatures with green bodies and blank red eyes and strange white clouds with faces and what appeared to be generators attached to their backs.

Up in the stands, Zelda and Peach were watching the ordeal with horrified looks on their faces.

"What on Earth are those things?!"

"I don't know, but they're surrounding Mario and Kirby!" Peach exclaimed, her hands against her chest in worry.

Zelda shook off her fear and looked towards the panicking audience, "Everyone, evacuate the arena this instant!" As the crowd started to frantically leave, she looked back at Peach, "Let's go, they need our help!"

"Right!"

The two princesses rushed from their seats in the stands, Zelda teleporting onto the field and Peach floating in on her parasol. All of a sudden, the eyes of the strange creatures started to glow and the spores that made them up began to secrete from their backs.

**"Primid...destroy…"**

**"Spaak...destroy…"**

The creatures spoke in dead, monotone voices.

"Looks like they're not going down without a fight."

The four of them readied themselves as the creatures attacked.

The Primids attacked them with powerful punches and kicks, some even using their spores to create boomerangs to throw at them. The Spaaks floated overhead and shot down lightning bolts to attack them. When Peach jumped up and attacked one of them, it's white cloud body turned black and the generator on it's back started sparking.

**"Spaak...power...overload…"**

It became much more ferocious and it's lightning attacks grew more powerful. Luckily, she managed to defeat it before it caused too much trouble. When they defeated one of the creatures, they reverted back to spores and the spores faded away. Even though their numbers were vast, together, they were able to defeat them all.

Peach dusted off her dress and spoke, "Is that all of them?"

"I think so."

They thought they were done until they heard Kirby call them, "What is it Kirby?"

He pointed towards the sky. They all looked up and saw a floating machine coming down towards them. It was almost bell shaped and was entirely covered in a green cloth aside from it's face, which was black with two yellow glowing dots they assumed to be it's eyes. It also was holding some strange circular object that was black with a peculiar red pattern.

Zelda readied herself, "Just who are you?"

"I AM THE ANCIENT MINISTER," It spoke in a dull robotic voice.

The Ancient Minister dropped the strange circular object onto the battlefield. From behind it, two strange robots with long thin bodies, bent arms and a flat bottom came out. They inserted their arms into the sides of the object and pulled, revealing a strange purple ball of energy encased in a glass cylinder. And beneath it was a counter, counting down from 3 minutes.

They realized then that what the Ancient Minister dropped was a bomb.

"LEAVE NOW, OR FALL VICTIM TO THE REALM OF THE SUBSPACE."

The Ancient Minister floated away into the direction of the ship. Zelda tried to shoot a fireball at it, but it exploded before it managed to hit the robot.

Peach stopped her before she could try it again, "We can worry about that machine later, Zelda."

"Peach is right. We have to stop that bomb!"

Mario ran towards the bomb to do something, but a large thud came down that practically shook the arena. The four of them looked behind them and saw a large cloud of dust that came from where the thud came from. From the cloud of dust, a cannonball suddenly shot out, hitting Mario and sending him flying out of the arena. As Kirby watched Mario fly off, he then heard Peach scream behind him. He turned around and saw a giant Piranha Plant standing there, holding the princesses trapped in cages attached to it's long leafy arms. It slammed the cages together and let out a loud roar towards Kirby, but he showed no fear and readied himself.

He knew stopping the bomb was important, but he had to save the princesses.

The Piranha Plant attacked Kirby by jumping up and slamming its body and the cages on the battlefield. It also swiped the cages along the ground whenever Kirby would move by him. The princesses had to hold onto the bars of the cages just to avoid getting brutally slammed around. Luckily, Kirby was able to dodge most of the attacks by floating up and attacking it's head. After a few well placed and powerful hits, it was defeated. Just as the Piranha Plant burst into flames, Kirby cut through the leaf arms, releasing the cages and freeing the princesses. Peach landed next to him and Zelda landed elsewhere.

Just as Kirby was going to make sure Zelda was okay, Peach picked him up and pulled him into a hug, "Oh Kirby, thank you!"

Kirby hugged her back and she put him down. But then someone else entered the arena. Kirby had no idea who he was, but Peach knew him all to well.

"Wario?"

Wario let out a laugh, "Nice to see you, princess!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Showing up right on time. That bomb's about to blow."

Kirby and Peach looked at the bomb and saw it was on it's last 30 seconds.

"How do you know about that bomb?"

"I was sent to pick up the leftovers of the Piranha Plant, but now I see it didn't go as well as we hoped."

"We? What do you mean?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out yourself, princess!" He gave another laugh.

He thought he heard something and looked behind him. And he saw Zelda crawling out of the broken cage. When she looked up and saw Wario, she stared at him in confusion.

"Hmm, I'd hate to go back empty handed," Wario turned to Zelda and pulled out a huge black gun with violet lines running along it, "So I guess you'll do!"

The gun charged up for a few seconds before firing, a black arrow shaped beam shooting out, hitting Zelda in the center of her body. The moment the beam came in contact with her, she was reverted into her trophy form.

"Zelda!" Peach shouted, frozen in place with her hands against her chest.

Wario walked to the trophied Zelda, picked her up and flung her onto his shoulder, "I'd love to stick around, but I have other business to handle. See you later, princess!" And with that, he left.

Peach shook herself out of her shock and looked at Kirby, "Quick, we have to get out of here!"

The two made a mad dash towards the exit, but Kirby looked at the bomb and saw it was on its last 3 seconds. Acting quickly, Kirby summoned his warp star and got him and Peach out of the arena before the bomb exploded, engulfing the arena in a large dark purple orb.

Peach, holding onto Kirby as they rode on the warp star, looked back at the scene that just occurred, "What is that, Kirby?" Kirby shrugged and Peach let out a sigh, "Come on, we have to find help."

Kirby nodded and steered the warp star through the vast sea of clouds.

But little did either of them know that the explosion was just the mere start of the danger they were about to face.


	2. Skyworld

Pit had continued watching the events that transpired below. And after seeing everything that happened, he was standing there in pure shock.

"What on Earth…"

As he continued to stand there frozen, trying to wrap his head around what was happening, a bright light shun behind him. He turned and saw the silhouette of the very Goddess he served, Palutena. He walked to her and knelled down.

"Lady Palutena, you saw what happened to the earthlings below?"

"Yes. They need your help, Pit. They don't know it, but they are about to face an evil force greater than they can imagine. You must go down there, warn them of this danger and help them vanquish it. Do you understand?"

Pit nodded and Palutena extended out her arm. From the palm of her hand, a golden ball of light appeared and morphed into a dual-edged bow.

"Take this with you, it will defend you against the enemies that lurk below."

The bow floated towards Pit, he grabbed it and two golden rings formed on his wrist.

"It is yours and yours alone to wield. Now go, there isn't much time."

"Got it," Pit rushed off in the opposite direction to one of the doors leading outside of the temple. Turning away from the door as it opened, he felt the wind rush against him and fell backwards. Taking a moment to enjoy the wind against him, he focused himself and guided himself through the clouds while Palutena kept him up. Even though Pit was an angel with wings, he couldn't fly on his own. He relied on Palutena's power to keep him up, but even then it didn't last for long. Once he spotted the land that covered his home, Skyworld, he flew towards it and landed.

Palutena's voice echoed in his head, "This is as far as I can take you. Remember your mission, Pit. Good luck and be safe."

"Understood. I won't let you down, Lady Palutena!"

Pit started his travel through the vast clouds and land of Skyworld and couldn't help but feel rather nostalgic. After all, it's been quite a while since he was given a mission. And he always did enjoy the scenery his home gave him.

He reached a patch of land that gave a wide view of the world below. Everything seemed normal, until he felt a strange rumbling. He then saw the mass of red clouds appear and the ship he saw back at the stadium come from them. It floated over him, realizing the purple spores all over the clouds that formed together into the strange creatures. And they were completely surrounding him.

"I figured they wouldn't make this easy," Pit grabbed the bow with both hands and pulled it apart, turning it into two short blades, "Bring it on!"

The creatures began attacking him. He noted that the Primids and Spaaks he saw back at the stadium were there, but there were also some new creatures as well. The first was a strange cylindrical creature that looked like it was made out of metal that he learned was called a Cymul. They didn't move around like the others, but it spun small triangle shaped blades around it whenever Pit got close. Luckily he was able to avoid them easily by shooting them with his bow. The same couldn't be said about the other one he fought. It was called a Greap. It was larger than every other creature he saw, with a circular black body, wheels for feet and two large scythes nearly as long as its body that appeared to be its arms. It attacked him by slamming its scythes into the ground and spinning them around its body whenever he tried to jump over it. Fortunately, when it slammed its scythe arms into the ground, it was stuck for a few seconds before it could pull them free, leaving it vulnerable. And Pit found out that attacking its head did more damage, though it did take a few precise shots to defeat it.

Once he was done, he looked around to see if there were any that he missed, then something caught his eye. It was a trophy of someone lying on one of the clouds. And upon closer inspection, he could tell who it was.

"Wait, that's the guy from the stadium!"

Pit walked to Mario, picked him up and brought him to the strip of land he was on. He didn't think it would be safe to restore him while on the clouds. Remembering how he saw Kirby do it, he touched the golden base of the trophy, restoring him.

Mario shook off the pain, adjusted his hat and looked around. But he couldn't tell where he was. As he tried to familiarize himself with the area, he was taken off guard when he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He turned around and looked at the angel, "Yes, I'm alright. But, who are you?"

"My name's Pit. You're...Mario, right?"

He nodded and stood up, "How do you know my name?"

"I was watching the battle you were in, back at the stadium."

That's when he remembered what had happened before he was attacked, "The stadium...do you know what happened?"

"Yeah. After you got launched, this giant plant monster showed up and trapped the princesses in cages. But that little pink guy was able to save them."

"Good job, Kirby," Mario whispered under his breathe, "What happened next?"

"This really weird fat guy showed up, I think I heard the blonde princess say his name was Wario," He saw Mario slightly cringe at the mention of his name, "He then pulled out this strange gun and shot the other princess, turned her into a trophy and took off with her."

"Huh?! He took Zelda?!"

"Yeah. And that Kirby guy was able to escape with the blonde princess before the bomb exploded. And now the entire stadium has been swallowed up in a strange purple orb."

Hearing what had happened when he was gone was shocking, but there was still one thing he was confused about, "Wait, then why are you out here?"

"I'm actually the captain of the army of the Goddess, Palutena. We saw the incident from within the temple, and she sent me to help."

"Help?"

Pit nodded, "She said the people below are about to face a great threat unlike anything they can imagine. So she sent me to warn the Earthlings and help them fight against it."

Mario tried to take in everything that Pit told him, "If that's true...then Peach and Kirby are in danger! We have to do something!"

"I just saw the ship that summoned those creatures pass over. If we're going to find out how to stop this, we have to follow that ship."

"Right!"

Without a seconds notice, the two set off.

"I'd recommend you stay on the ground here Mario."

"Why? Will something happen?"

"I don't really know. You're the first human to ever enter Skyworld. And I don't want to take any chances."

"If you say so."

The two continued on and found that the creatures had spread out farther than anticipated. The Primids and Spaaks were still present, but the Cymuls that Pit encountered earlier were nowhere to be found. Instead, they were replaced by a different type of enemy. A tire shaped metal robot with three yellow hinges around it and an eye on each side called Glunders. They moved along the floors, walls and ceilings and didn't seem to be hindered by the type of land it was on. When one of the boys got too close to one, it opened its body and released electric shocks all around it. Though it didn't seem to be able to attack while airborne, so they were able to take them down easily by juggling them with attacks. And eventually, they encountered another giant enemy. A giant claw shaped enemy with a brown body and a skull face called a Roturret. It floated in midair and fired energy pulses from the tips of its clawed body when its eyes glowed red. But they found a tactic to defeat it. For one, it couldn't move while attacking, and its shots fired in a straight line. Plus, attacking seemed to confuse it and made it incapable of attacking them. So the two were able to take it down by constantly attacking.

After a few minutes, all the creatures were defeated and they reached another edge of the clouds.

Pit turned to Mario, "We'll have to continue our search on the surface. We won't be able to continue up here. The land doesn't stretch very far up here."

"Right. But how will we get back down?"

"I think Lady Palutena mentioned something about a portal to the surface once. We'll head back to the temple and ask if she can transport us down."

"Why don't you just fly us down?" He noted, pointing at Pit's wings.

The angel chuckled, "I might have fought in some intense battles before, but I don't think I can carry a full grown human all the way to the ground," His demeanor grew serious, "And besides, there's something about me you should know."

"What is it?"

Before Pit could answer, the rumbling had returned and the ship once again showed its face. But then something else caught their eye, something much smaller than the ship that zipped across the sky lightning fast.

"What was that?!"

While Pit was left astonished, Mario couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity when he saw the ship. And when he was able to get a good look at it, that's when it hit him.

"Fox!"


	3. Sea of Clouds

Up in the sky, Kirby and Peach continued to ride on the warp star. Kirby focused on steering through the sea of clouds while Peach scanned over the vast horizon.

"Oh, where could Mario be?" Kirby shrugged in confusion, "Oh, I hope he is okay," Kirby reassured her with a bright smile on his face, "You're right, he's got to be fine. In fact, he's probably looking for us right now."

Kirby nodded and continued to fly through the skies. But a rumbling sound came from behind them, which made Peach look behind her and see the ship flying towards them.

"Kirby, look out!"

Kirby tried to move faster, but the ship moved upwards, causing it to bump into them and send them crashing onto the ship's surface. Peach tried to collect herself while Kirby pushed himself up.

"Kirby, are you okay?" He nodded and looked around, "Yeah, we're actually on the ship," He made a suggestion and Peach nodded, "You're right, we should look around and see if we can find anyone."

The two walked along the ship, fighting against the strong rushing wind blowing against them.

"Hey Kirby, do you know who this ship belongs to?" He explained to her, "Oh, so it's called the Halberd, and it belongs to someone you know called Meta Knight?" He nodded, "Do you think that he's the one making all these creatures?" He shrugged and shook his head, "Well, maybe we'll see if he really is doing this."

The two continued along the ship. Until suddenly, the various turrets, missile launchers and guns throughout the ship began to fire. At first, they thought they had been sighted and hid themselves. But they saw that all the firepower was being directed at one thing. A small ship flying quickly and expertly throughout the sky that they immediately recognized.

"That's Fox!"

They watched as his ship dodged each blast being shot at it, expertly maneuvering with little ease. But then a long clawed arm shot out, hitting the back of his ship and sending it plummeting out of the sky. However, his ship past over Kirby and Peach, and the rush of wind from it knocked them off of the Halberd and into the clouds below. Lucky for them, they landed on one of the patches of land that filled the clouds.

Peach sat up, rubbing her side that was sore from the fall, and looked around at her surroundings and couldn't believe her eyes, "Kirby, are we actually...inside the clouds?" Kirby stood up, shaking off the pain, looked around them and nodded, "I'm not sure how we're in here, but we should probably take a look around."

The two set off through the clouds, coming across the creatures that had attacked them at the stadium. Looks like the only way through was to fight.

The Primids and Spaaks were there, and they came across the Glunders as well. But there were quite a few new additions.

The first were strange little humanoids called Poppants. They had black bodies, large pants that were open like a bowl with two suspenders attached to the creature's shoulders, it even had bushy white hair on the sides of its head. It almost looked like someone they would have in the stadium passing out snacks to everyone. But the absolute strangest thing about it was that when they approached it, it ran away from there in fear. And as it ran, it dropped food for them to eat to restore their energy. They never would have guessed they would come across a creature that was not only docile, but helpful. Because of this, they decided to leave it be.

The same could not be said about the next one they came across. Strange fish shaped creatures with light red bodies, a huge eyeball on their faces and tentacles dangling under them called Feyeshs. They floated around and chased after them when one spotted them, and would attack by swinging its tentacles that seemed to be electrified. They had to defeat them quickly, for they seemed to have fast reflexes.

The next one they came across was a large sheep like creature with gray fur, a custard colored face and two curled beige horns on its head called Towtows. When they first came across it, it was sound asleep and looked really peaceful. At first they thought that it was another docile creature, but when one of Peach's attacks accidentally hit it, it woke up in a burning rage. Its face grew red, its teeth were razor sharp and its eyes were filled with fury, and it attacked them by charging into them with great force. They had to be careful and quick to deal with them.

The last new one they found were tiny stick figure creatures in various colors called Mites. They were even smaller than Kirby, their heads just about the size of his eyes. Alone they couldn't do much at all, but together they put up a fight, and they attacked them by practically throwing themselves against them. They also seemed to only show up when these strange black portals appeared, and they had to destroy the portals to keep them from re-spawning.

As they traveled through the clouds, they came across a strange area that had a blue circle glowing on the ground, radiating a dim light and a mysterious energy.

"What do you think it is Kirby?" He shrugged, "Well, only one way to find out."

The two stepped onto the glowing circle, and in an instant they felt their bodies being enveloped in lovely blue light. When the light faded, they were on the surface.

"Kirby, we made it back to the ground!" Kirby clapped his hands in excitement, "Come on, let's keep going."

The two continued through the land, defeating more of the creatures, and with the successful defeat of a Greap, they continued on in their search for help, and hopefully their friends.


	4. The Jungle

Within a deep shroud of green of a dense forest, a chase was ensuing. A Hammer Bro and Goomba had successfully stolen a massive pile of banana's, several feet tall, and were riding off with them on a hover car they got from their boss. What they didn't count on was the animals they stole them from would be pursuing them so fiercely. Sure, they had set up troops to slow them down, but they weren't a very effective blockade.

When the Goomba turned around and looked at the overpass they drove down from it saw one of their pursuers at the top. A tall, bulky ape with a red tie branding his initials, Donkey Kong. He pounded his chest and let out a roar before looking down at them, eyes filled with rage and determination. In an act of desperation, the Goomba went to the back of the car and shot the two mounted cannons they had, launching three Bullet Bills at him. But that's when their second pursuer caught up, a much smaller monkey wearing a red cap and t-shirt, Diddy Kong. Getting a boost from his friend, he jumped up, pulled out his two Peanut Popguns and shot the Bullet Bills out of the sky as they exploded on the ground.

Though the attack wasn't able to stop them, it did put some distance between them and the thieves, for when they looked over the overpass, they had driven out of sight.

But they weren't willing to give up so easily.

With quick work, they continued after them. Though the forest was deep, dense and dark, this was their terrain and they knew each part of the land front to back. But just as they assumed, the thieves had left a plethora of troops in their path. Goombas, Koopas, Paratroopas, Hammer Bros, Bullet Bills, even Giant Goombas. But though their numbers were vast, they were no match for this duo.

Eventually, they were able to break through all the troops and managed to get ahead of the vehicle. So they hid in the bushes, waiting for their arrival. The moment the vehicle appeared, Donkey Kong gave a mighty punch, knocking off the Hammer Bro and Goomba and destroying the car. They saw they were clearly outmatched and retreated into the forest. Donkey and Diddy Kong looked over the glorious pile of bananas, satisfaction filling them from getting them back, and the two pounded on their chest in celebration.

But the celebration was cut short when they heard loud thudding footsteps come up behind them. They turned around and saw an all too familiar foe.

Bowser.

He let out a loud roar, so powerful it felt like it shook the ground, "I was wondering what was taking them so long. Now I see why. But no matter, I have you both."

Diddy Kong stepped up, readying himself to face Bowser.

"So you want to fight, huh? Very well then," He reached behind him, "Try to fight THIS!" He pulled out the same gun Wario had used and began to charge it up.

Donkey Kong could see the were in trouble, and he didn't think he'd be able to save the both of them. One of them had to escape, so with no other choice, he made the ultimate sacrifice. He winded up a powerful punch, and when the gun fired, he sent Diddy Kong flying. Diddy was only able to get a half second glimpse of the fired beam striking Donkey Kong, reverting him to a trophy, before he flew out of sight.

Bowser saw he was less one trophied hero, "So you gave yourself up to save him? How noble," He walked to the trophied Donkey Kong and picked him up, "But nobility will only get you so far here. Things are just getting started."


	5. The Plain

In the midst of a large plain of green grass and open fields, a column of heavenly blue light shined down from the sky onto the ground. When the light faded, the angel Pit and the plumber Mario found themselves on the ground.

"Hey, we're back!" Mario said with excitement as he looked around the familiar-feeling land.

"Yeah. Sure feels weird being down here. I don't come down to the surface that much...or at all really."

"I guess being an angel means you're always in the clouds."

Pit chuckled, "Pretty much," His look became curious and he looked at the sky, "One thing's still weirding me out, though. Lady Palutena said she had sensed that someone else had used the portal before we arrived at the temple. Who do you think that was?"

Mario thought about it for a moment, "I'm not sure. Maybe one of those creatures found it and sent itself down here."

"Hmm, you're probably right," His demeanor grew serious, "Anyway, back to business. Now that we're on the surface, we'll be able to cover much more ground. And if we're going to figure out what's going on, we have to find that robot."

"Right, let's go!"

With that, the two immediately set off.

"Hey Mario," Pit said during their run.

"Yes?"

"That ship we saw chasing after that other one, you know who that was?"

"Yes, it belongs to a friend of mine named Fox."

' _Fox? Oddly specific name.'_ "Well, if this Fox guy was chasing after that ship, it's likely that this threat has spread farther than we thought. Who knows who else will get involved in this."

"I don't know, but I hope they'll be safe."

"Same here."

The two continued on until they came across the creatures, and having no other option, they had to fight their way through. Some familiar enemies such as the Primids, Feyeshs, Poppants and Spaaks were there, but there were some interesting new ones as well.

The first were strange humanoid creatures with thin green bodies and what looked like a blow dryer for a head with beady black eyes called Borboras. When it caught sight of them, it let out a huge gust of wind that pushed them with great force. It didn't seem to tire out, so they had to wait for an opening to strike. And they saw that when the creature couldn't see them, it would gleefully skip around. Definitely one of the stranger ones they found.

At least until they found the next one.

A large, fat chicken looking creature called a Ticken. When they first saw it, they were dumbfounded. They had no idea what on Earth they were looking at. But they were taken even more off guard when they saw how it fought. Despite it's large size, it was able to move rather quickly and hit them with powerful headbutts using the crest on their heads and actually lifting up their bodies with their tiny wings to slam them into the ground. It also proved to be incredibly sturdy, only Mario and Pits stronger attacks seemed to make it flinch. But the absolute strangest thing about it came when they defeated it. Unlike all the other creatures that evaporated into spores, when they defeated one of these things, they literally broke apart and released a tiny yellow bird which then flew away. It was easily the weirdest thing they ever saw, and it raised so many questions as to what exactly these creatures are.

The last new creature they encountered couldn't exactly be considered new. It was a Primid, but a different type of Primid. For one, it's body was red as supposed to green. And rather than using physical attacks and creating weapons to attack, these Primids attacked by spewing fire at them in short burst and large spews. Though it seemed to be easily distracted and took some energy in order for it to attack, so it wasn't anymore different to handle than normal Primids. But it does pose the theory of other types of Primids they will encounter.

As the two defeated the enemies and continued down the path, they saw a mysterious object floating overhead. Closer examination revealed it.

"The Ancient Minister!"

The two gave immediate pursuit after it. Though it seemed to notice their presence, for when Mario jumped up to grab it, it floated just out of his reach. Pit jumped up, getting a boost by jumping off of Mario, but it wasn't enough to grab the Ancient Minister.

"FOOLS. YOU CANNOT HOPE TO STOP THE SPREAD OF THE SUBSPACE," It taunted them before flying off into the distance.

Pit stared at the robot as it flew off, anger burning in his eyes, "That thing's not getting away so easily," He heard a groan behind him, turned around, and saw Mario sprawled out on the ground on his stomach. He had momentarily forgotten the stunt he pulled when trying to get the Ancient Minister, "Oops, sorry about that Mario. Are you okay?" He asked helping him sit up.

Mario sat up, brushing the dust off him and shaking off the pain in his head, "Yeah, I'm okay," He stared at the angel in confusion, "But, why didn't you fly after him?"

Pit sighed, "This was actually what I was going to tell you when we were in Skyworld. You see, my wings...don't exactly work."

Mario thought about what he meant for a moment, then it hit him, "You...can't fly?"

Pit shook his head before looking off into the direction the Ancient Minister went. Mario couldn't really see, but he seemed to be depressed. But when he spoke, it was in that usual tone of his, "We can't let the Ancient Minister escape, we got to keep going."

Pit took off in the direction of the Ancient Minister and Mario followed after him. He was still curious about a few things, but he'll have to wait until a better time before he can get those answers.


	6. The Lake

The force from Donkey Kong's punch sent Diddy all the way to the other side of the forest. He was fortunate to land in a tree to break the fall, though his back was still hurting from the punch. Remembering what he saw happen to his friend, he immediately went into a full on sprint, weaving through the forest to try to get back to him. Not long after, he came across something he and DK found some time ago. A large clear blue lake that reflected the sunlight off it beautifully. It was a special spot they used for relaxing after a long day. But that;s when he picked up the smell of smoke. Ho looked to his right and saw a small ship that was broken in half with pieces falling off the sides and was slightly smoking. He was worried that someone might be trapped inside and went to take a look.

But just as he took a few steps, the ground shook. He thought it was an earthquake, but then something emerged from the lake.

It was a large creature with a green serpent body and yellow rings and red tipped ridges along its body. It had two small arms with clawed fingers and hollow black eyes with small yellow pupils. But this wasn't any normal creature. It was a Pokemon, a legendary Pokemon to be precise, called Rayquaza. When it saw Diddy, it let out a loud roar, showing its sharp teeth, that practically shook the ground and made Diddy revile back in fear. It charged up an attack and shot a powerful Aura Sphere from its mouth at the ship, destroying it more and setting it ablaze. The blast from the attack knocked Diddy to the ground, but then he felt himself get picked up. Rayquaza had taken advantage of Diddy's distracted state and sped at, picking him up in its claw. Diddy began to squirm and shriek for help, but the Pokemon wouldn't let him go. It brought him to the lake, even going underwater for a quick second, before holding him in front of its face. Diddy stared at its black, vacant eyes, his entire body shaking as it gave another roar in front of him, and he started to pray that the Pokemon wouldn't eat him.

But unknown to them both, someone had ejected themselves from the burning airship, launching themselves into the air. By the time Rayquaza noticed, it saw the figure move at an incredible speed and slash at its hand, causing it to drop Diddy. The figure landed on the ground, revealing itself.

A four foot tall anthropomorphic fox wearing shorts, a jacket, gloves, and what appeared to be iron boots and equipped with some impressive looking technology. The legendary Star Fox pilot, Fox McCloud.

He turned to the enraged Rayquaza and smirked, "Thought you got rid of me, didn't you?"

Rayquaza growled in anger and fired another Aura Sphere at Fox. But he quickly brought out his reflector, creating a shield in front of him that blocked the attack and sent it back to the Pokemon, the attack hitting him in the chest, sending it back into the water.

Fox looked at Diddy, who had fallen behind him and was lying on the ground, "Are you okay?" Diddy sat up and nodded, "That attack won't keep it down there for long. Mind helping me take it down?" Diddy nodded again and readied himself.

Rayquaza re-emerged from the lake, more enraged than before, and charged at them, ready to fight. Rayquaza proved to be a very tough and fast opponent. It moved swiftly and with great ease, even being next to it during one of its dashes could knock the wind out of you. It attacked them by swiping the tail of its serpent body, shooting powerful Aura Sphere's, unleashing Thunderbolt's, and even burrowing its body underground to launch up at them. Fox and Diddy had to use their reflexes to their fullest in order to dodge Rayquaza's attacks, along with Fox's quick thinking and fast movements and Diddy's impressive maneuverability helping to keep up with the Pokemon and plan the best moment to attack. It took some time, and some real effort, but they eventually defeated the legendary Pokemon.

Rayquaza backed away, showing clear signs of exhaustion and weakness, and flew into the sky and out of sight. The two waited for a few seconds to see if it would come back down, but nothing happened.

"Guess that's taken care of," Fox stored away his laser pistol and looked at Diddy, "You still okay after that?" Diddy nodded and began screeching some stuff that Fox couldn't understand.

But that's when he remembered something. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a translator that Slippy had made for the team. He never thought that he would have to use it, but he guessed it was time to prove that statement wrong.

"Mind repeating that?" Fox pressed the button on the translator before Diddy started screeching again. When he was done, Fox looked at the screen on the device and read 'Are you okay, too? And how did you get in that ship?'

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. That's nothing I'm not used to. And I was sent to hunt someone down, someone who's been causing some serious trouble lately. But they knocked me out of the sky and I guess I must have passed out," He looked over to his destroyed, burning Arwing, "Good thing I woke up before I got roasted," He looked back to Diddy, "What are you doing out here, though? And mind telling me your name?"

Diddy began screeching and making all sorts of gestures with his hands. When he was done, Fox looked back at the translator and read 'I'm Diddy Kong. I'm looking for my friend, Donkey Kong. We got attacked by Bowser. He got me out of there, but I think Bowser has him.'

"Bowser, huh? Nothing good ever happens when he's around. If he does have Donkey Kong, you better hurry if you're going to catch him. In fact, I should probably hurry myself."

Fox began to walk off into the forest but he felt Diddy grab his shirt and pulled him back. He looked at the monkey, who was screeching and pointing in the opposite direction. Even without the translator, he could tell that he was asking him to come along.

"Sorry buddy, I got some serious lost time to make up. You be careful now."

Fox tried to continue the path he was walking, until he felt Diddy grab the back of his collar and pull, dragging him along the ground in the opposite direction.

' _Guess he's not willing to take "no" for an answer,'_ He sighed inwardly, _'Sure hope they don't mind if I take a little detour.'_ "Okay, okay, I'll go with you. Now can you let me walk?"

Diddy let go of Fox, letting him stand up, and the two set off.

Since Diddy seemed to know the area more than him, Fox let him lead the way. It wasn't long before they came across some of Bowser's minions throughout the forest, and they had no choice but to fight through them. It was a large assortment of Goombas, Koopas, Hammer Bros, Paratroopas, and Giant Goombas. But they soon also came across the strange creatures. But they were surprised to find that the strange creatures were not only avoiding fighting Bowser's minions, but were actually helping them fight Fox and Diddy. Either they didn't see the minions as a threat, or something else was going on. Regardless, they had to fight through them as well. They came across Borboras, Towtows, Mites and two new ones. The first were large bird creatures with white bodies and rainbow colored wings at the tips of their wings, all black eyes with small red pupils, orange talons and long, pointed yellow beaks called Auroros. They flew overhead, and when one of them got close, they would dive into the ground like falling icicles. They crashed down with so much force that their beaks got stuck in the ground for a few seconds. But that opened up a new strategy for them. Turns out they could grab the Auroros when it was stuck in the ground and use it as a weapon against other enemies, being able to throw them like javelins. And the creature would not be able to handle the force of the impact of whatever it hit, and would disintegrate.

The next one was the complete opposite. It was a small creature with a round green body, gigantic pink puckered lips, small beady eyes and what appeared to be a purple tail on them called Bucculus. It hid in the ground, using its lips to disguise itself as a flower, and sprung up and latched itself onto one of them when they got close. And like a leech, they sucked the energy out of them which got stored in the purple tail that was revealed to be some type of sack. It was a serious pain to remove them and they would burrow back into the ground if they didn't defeat them right away. So Diddy and Fox had to trick them out of the ground and defeat them on the spot to avoid the literal kiss of death.

As the two moved through the forest, Diddy eventually lead them to a river with fast and powerful rapids. Fox figured that they would have to cross the river, but then he saw Diddy go to a large bush of leafs and started pushing them out of the way. Fox didn't know what he was doing, but he figured that he should help him regardless. Moving the remainder of the leafs, they were graced with a large well-crafted raft.

"Whoa. Where did this come from?"

Diddy started screeching again and Fox took out the translator. Luckily, he tied down the button using a broken vine he found so he wouldn't have to constantly hold it down whenever Diddy talked. Looking at the translator, he read 'Donkey Kong and I made it a while ago. We can use this and get to him faster.'

"Smart thinking there."

The two pulled out the raft and brought it to the edge of the riverbed. Diddy reached back into the jumble of leafs and pulled out a large rowing stick. He handed it to Fox and jumped on the raft. Fox jumped on it as well and used the stick to push them into the water. The moment they were in, the river pushed them down along the waves. Despite the rough rapids of the water, the raft seemed to be completely unphased by it.

"Sure is pretty sturdy."

Diddy nodded and sat down on the raft with Fox joining him. After those last few battles, they could use a moment of relaxation.

Though that hope was pretty much dashed when something flew by Diddy at an incredible speed, making him scream and fall back on the raft.

Fox looked up and saw that it was a Bullet Bill. He pulled out his blaster and shot it, making it explode in the sky. He looked ahead and saw what was likely more Bullet Bills coming their way.

"Great, that was just a welcoming committee," He readied his blaster and looked at Diddy, "I'm going to need your help on this one. If one of those things get near us, we're toast."

Diddy nodded, stood up and pulled out his Peanut Popguns. When the Bullet Bills were in their line of sight, they began to shot. Every enemy that came towards them was shot and exploded before they could get anywhere near them, and those that did get close were knocked away and shot while dazed. the explosions of the Bullet Bills caused small ripples on the river water, but only strong enough to make small waves against the well-crafted raft. But when 3 of them fell behind them, the explosion caused a wave that sent them flying down the river. The remaining Bullet Bills were doused by the waves and exploded in the water, which only sent them careening faster down the river. Eventually, the waves died down and Fox and Diddy looked at each other, both now soaked to the bone.

"Well, at least we're out of that mess," Fox said with a sarcastic tone while wringing out his clothes and fur while Diddy shook the water off.

When the two were moderately dry, Fox grabbed the rowing stick, which he had miraculously managed to hold onto during that fiasco, and used it to steer them down the now calm river. Soon after, Diddy pointed ahead to an edge of the river leading to a path.

"Got it," Fox steered them to the river edge. Once they neared, they jumped off the raft and pushed it onto the land, making sure that it was far enough to prevent it being pulled in by the water.

The two continued on, fighting off more of Bowser's minions and the strange creatures, until they reached a familiar sight.

Once they got there, Diddy started screeching and jumping wildly. Fox looked at the translator and read 'This is it! This is where we got attacked.' He looked around and saw a ruined hover car and a gigantic pile of bananas. But aside from that, it was the same forest he's seen in the past couple of minutes.

"If that's the case, where are Bowser and DK?"

Diddy hopped all around the trees around them, calling out into the thick, dense forest but getting no response. Fox managed to grab him on one of his jumps between the trees.

"Sorry Diddy, I don't think they're here."

Taking in the news, Diddy's usual cheerful expression turned into one of sadness. Fox put him down and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry buddy, you'll find him. How about this? I'll stick by you until we find Donkey Kong," Diddy's face lightened up at his words, "I'm just as much a friend to him as you are, and I sure won't be able to continue my mission with the Arwing a broken mess."

Diddy jumped up and down, clapping his hands in excitement. But that was interrupted when they heard loud, thudding footsteps behind them and they turned to find Bowser. But they could tell right away that something was seriously wrong with him. His entire body was covered in a strange dark purple energy, his body was darkened a few shades and his eyes were a piercing sharp yellow.

" _What the...is that power coming from the same energy those things were made of? Are they...possessing him?! I wasn't even told they could do that!"_

"Come on Diddy, we have to take him down!"

Diddy nodded and the two readied themselves as Bowser charged forward just as eager to fight.

Bowser was just as powerful as Fox remembered, but his suspicions about the Koopa King were growing. He wasn't doing his usual taunting, laughing in overconfidence; heck he wasn't even doing so much as growling. He was completely silent, not showing any reaction to everything, even when receiving a heavy attack. This just made the idea that he was possessed all the more plausible.

With one last attack from both of them, Bowser was defeated and reverted into his trophy form. Fox saw that he still had those piercing yellow eyes in his trophied state.

" _Guess he's still possessed. But how do we get it out of him?"_

Still in thought, he watched Diddy walk up to the trophied Bowser and nudge against him. But after one hit, the trophy dissolved in the same fashion as the creatures. This completely took them off guard.

"It's a fake?!"

In their daze, Fox heard the sound of a weapon charging and through the corner of his eye saw something coming towards them.

"Diddy, move!"

The two were able to barely dodge a black arrow being shot at them. When they looked in the direction it came from, they saw Bowser holding the gun it came from.

"About time you showed up. I was getting pretty sick of waiting."

" _This one's definitely the genuine one."_ "Bowser, where is Donkey Kong?!"

"If you're so desperate to see him, then allow me to take you to him!"

Bowser charged up the gun and fired another arrow beam at them. They dodged and the beam hit the ground, causing a small explosion. Diddy came from the smoke, more angry than ever, ready to attack, but Fox grabbed him before he pounced.

"Not now Diddy, we'll get him later!"

Fox, holding onto Diddy, ran over the cliff and into the overpass below. The smoke cleared up and Bowser saw that they were gone. But he still let out a sinister laugh, "Don't think you can escape me, Fox. You know I'm always one step ahead."


	7. The Ruined Zoo

A zoo is normally a place of enjoyment, where one can come to see the wonders of nature and the planet they live on. But this zoo was run down; the joy, merriment and happiness it once held now diminished into a dull gray. Buildings collapsed in on themselves, signs just barely holding on to their post, vegetation grew from the old buildings and into the dusty paths and the area was perpetually covered in a blanket of dark clouds, preventing the light from shining through and hopefully reviving this dead wasteland.

And within this dilapidated old zoo, one lone soul has finally entered for the first time in many years.

Lucas, a young boy with extraordinary powers, had found himself wandering the lands in an attempt to clear his thoughts. He had an unbelievable amount of emotional baggage, more than anyone his age should. His walk to clear his mind eventually led him to this zoo, almost visually representing what he was feeling in his heart: emptiness, sadness and feeling as though all positivity had been drained away and couldn't be recovered.

He looked around the ancient locale, lazily kicking an old tin can about, but stopped in his tracks when the purple spores began to rain down from the sky and formed the strange creatures. Even though he has faced against many monsters before, they were nothing like these, and it just made him afraid of what they can do to him. But the worst came when he heard something heavy fall behind him and saw a giant rock-like structure of the very being that had caused him all his pain and torment.

Porky Minch.

Lucas screamed and ran off, but the Porky bot gave chase and was able to keep up with him no matter how fast he ran or what path he took. The creatures also tried to stop him, but he was able to avoid them, and the Porky bot didn't seem phased by them as it simply swatted them away like flies. Just when he thought he was getting a lead, Lucas tripped and fell down, his ankle ensnared by a sturdy vine that had grown through the ground. He tried to free himself, but with the Porky bot was closing in on him, he couldn't concentrate properly. And when its large shadow loomed over him, he gave up and buried his face in his arms, trembling in fear.

"H-HEEEEEELP!"

"PK Thunder!"

Like an answer to his prayers, a ball of electric energy flew out of the blue and hit the Porky bot square in the face, knocking it onto its back. Lucas looked up and saw Ness, another boy of the same age and powers of his own, and a good friend to the blonde boy, land in front of him with the utmost confidence and bravery. The Porky bot stood up, letting out what almost sounded like a roar, ready to attack. But Ness beat him to the punch.

"PK Flash!" 

A mass of green energy shot from Ness into the Porky bot's body, causing it to explode. The boys covered their eyes from the smoke and massive amounts of rock debris, and once it cleared away, they saw a large spider shaped mech controlled by Porky Minch himself.

But that's impossible. The last time he had been seen, he had sealed himself away in a capsule, never to be seen again. It was confirmed that once it was closed, it can never be opened by any possible means. So how was he here?

Ness broke the vine constricting Lucas' leg and helped him stand up.

"Come on, we have to defeat him together!"

Lucas didn't hesitate before nodding. He always felt much more braver when he had a good friend at his side.

The spider mech was incredibly mobile; it moved quickly on its legs and tried to jab at them rapidly with one of its many legs. It also fired lasers and bombs, and it would fly up to try to rain lasers down at them. But these boys had felled many great foes before, so taking this machine down wasn't much of a problem.

After a few precise and well aimed hits, the spider mech started to glitch and spasm. Sparks flew from its damaged body and it circuits started to break and explode. It couldn't take it anymore and fell onto its back, its body shutting down. They heard the glass covering the seat Porky was in shatter and they went to take a closer look. But what they found was rather unexpected. They saw Porky's body severed, and several wires sticking out, cut and sparking.

"He was a robot?"

"That does make sense, there's no other way he could have been here."

The boys walked away from the broken wreckage before Ness spoke, "What are you doing here, anyway? I've been looking for you for hours."

"I was taking a walk, and I guess I ended up here. That's when that robot and these weird monsters came out of nowhere and tried to attack me."

"I have heard that it's getting pretty dangerous out here lately. Come on, we should probably leave."

"Leaving so soon, boys?"

They were caught completely off guard by the sudden voice and looked up to see Wario standing on top of a tall rock holding the gun.

"Who are you?"

"None of your business, kid. I'm not here to make small talk, I'm here to collect. And since that robot couldn't do the job," He focused the gun on Ness, "I'll just have to do it myself!"

The gun powered up and fired, but Ness dodged it. Wario fired several more shots at him, but Ness dodged them with ease.

"Rotten brat, hold still!"

"Not on your life, fat man!"

Wario growled and looked at Lucas from the corner of his eye, "Fine! If you want to be a pain in my neck," He focused the gun on Lucas, "Let's see if your friend will!"

As the gun charged up, Lucas felt his body freezing up in fear. He wanted to move, but his body wouldn't cooperate. Ness saw him in his paralyzed state. And without a second to spare, he did the only thing he thought he could do.

Just as the gun fired, Ness ran to Lucas as fast as he could, pushed him out of the way and took the hit for him. When Lucas hit the ground, he looked up and saw the trophied Ness laying on the ground.

"W-Wha-"

Wario jumped off the rock and glared at Lucas, making him only more afraid.

"Unless you want to end up like him, beat it!"

Without a seconds hesitation, Lucas shot up and ran off. He gave one glance back, saw Wario holding the trophied Ness and laughing maniacally, and focused on running as far and fast as possible.

He wasn't sure how long he was running, probably a few minutes, but when he stopped, he saw he was on the other side of the zoo. And immediately, he felt utterly horrible. How could he just run away like that? How could he leave Ness, who had just saved him twice, behind in the hands of that creep? He desperately wanted to turn around, go back and get Ness, but no matter how hard he tried, his legs kept taking him in the wrong direction. As he continued walking, occasionally glancing back with some hope of seeing Ness, he bumped into something.

But when he looked, he saw it wasn't something, but rather someone.

It was another boy who was about twice his size, so likely a teenager. He was wearing a red shirt, blue pants, white sneakers and a yellow backpack. And his eyes were a dark brown along with his hair, which was partially covered by a red cap.

Lucas didn't recognize him at all, "Who-"

The teenage boy held his hand out, silencing him, "Hold on," His voice was deeper than his, "Look."

Lucas watched as masses of spores formed together into the creatures that appeared earlier.

"T-They're here too?!"

The sight of them reminded Lucas of what happened earlier, and fear immediately filled him. He was about to run away when the teenager held out his hand again.

"Don't worry. Just stay behind me, I got this."

The teenager reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ball that was half red and half white. Upon pushing the button in the center, it grew three times its size.

"Go, Squirtle!" With a through of the ball, it opened up and shot a red beam at the ground, forming the water Pokemon, Squirtle.

Lucas stood there in complete awe. _'Did he just summon a monster?!'_

The teenager and his Pokemon stood brave and strong against the small armada of enemies, and he looked back at Lucas, "Stay close, I'll handle these guys!"

Lucas watched as the Pokemon trainer and his Squirtle fought off the strange creatures, watching the Pokemon blasts torrents of water at its foes and doing everything in its power to keep the creatures away from its trainer. The sight of it left Lucas in awe, just witnessing the Pokemon's strength, loyalty and determination. But in the midst of the fight, he saw that a Primid holding a boomerang had managed to sneak behind the Pokemon trainer.

"PK Fire!"

With quick thinking, Lucas shot a small blast of fire at the Primid, which struck its back, defeating it. This took the Pokemon trainer by surprise, and he turned and looked at Lucas, shocked, "Did you just do that?"

Lucas nodded and, with a surge of bravery, ran up to him, "Let me help you, I can fight too."

He was a little hesitant at first (after all, letting a little kid fight monsters didn't seem like the best thing to do) but he allowed him, "Just be careful, okay?"

Lucas nodded again before they readied themselves for the enemies attack. They were facing a wide variety of creatures: Primids, Auroros, Glunders, Borboras, Tickens, Fire Primids and some new additions.

The first were giant two-dimensional humanoid creatures that were entirely black with particles floating around them called Floows. They acted like giant floating pictures, as they levitated around motionlessly and attacked by revealing two bright eyes and shooting pulses of energy around them. They also found out something interesting about this creature. Whenever they attacked one, they would hold still and regenerate their health at a fast rate. So they had to put them down right away to avoid any trouble from them.

The other was large sphere shaped creatures that resembled giant pokeballs, albeit with a single large eye and a fang toothed smile, in a variety of colors called Bytans. They couldn't do any form of attacking, aside from throwing their bodies at them, but they also had an unusual power to them. They had the ability to multiply, being able to create a small armada of them in just a couple seconds. They also seemed to be able to grow in size, but they never actually witnessed it. Either way, they had to be quick in defeating them as well to prevent their numbers from growing too large.

After a few minutes, the two boys managed to defeat all the creatures. The Pokemon trainer sighed in relief and scanned the area just to be sure, "Looks like that's all of them."

"Excuse me," He turned around to see Lucas closely observing Squirtle, who was staring back at him, "But what is this?"

"Oh, that's a Pokemon. They're creatures of extraordinary power that can be trained for battle by trainers like me." He knelled down and started to pet his Pokemon, "This is Squirtle. He's been my partner for a while and he was the first Pokemon I ever got."

Lucas watched as Squirtle close his eyes in bliss, enjoying the treatment he was getting from his owner.

"He seems to really like you."

"Mmmhmm, it's pretty easy to form a bond with someone, even if you don't know them for that long." He took out his Pokemon's pokeball and called him back.

"What's that?"

"A pokeball. It's where you keep your Pokemon, safe and ready when you need them most." He placed the pokeball on his belt and stood up, "You know, what you did back there was pretty impressive. Where did you learn that...um, now that I think about it, I never got your name."

"Oh, my name's Lucas. And...I was just born with those powers."

"Lucas, huh? Fitting. Well, I'm Red," Red extended his hand out to Lucas, and the young boy shook it, "So, Lucas, what are you doing out here?"

"I was taking a walk...and I ended up here. Um, why are you here, Red?"

"Me? I'm on a search," Red slung his backpack off his back and reached inside, pulling out two cards, "Having Squirtle by my side has been a blast, but if I'm going to get stronger, I have to expand my team. So I'm looking for these two," He showed Lucas the cards, one depicting a four-legged light blue beast with a half grown flower on its back, the other depicting a large red dragon with a fire tipped tail, "This is Ivysaur and Charizard. If I can catch these two, we'll be one heck of a force. I came here to see if I could find a trace of them, but all I found were those weird creatures."

"Do you know what those were?"

"No idea, but they've been showing up a lot recently. I can't help but feel worried about it; maybe I might look into it once I get Ivysaur and Charizard," He placed the cards back in his bag and placed it back on him, "Well, I should start looking somewhere else. You be careful going home, okay Lucas?"

"Um, o-okay," He barely got out as Red waved goodbye and began to walk off.

But that's when he remembered what happened to Ness, and that gut instinct that told him to save him came back. And a new idea entered his mind.

' _I can't save him by myself. I need help.'_

With his mind made up, he did exactly what that voice in his head told him to.

"Wait!"

Red stopped and turned around as Lucas called out and ran up to him.

"What's wrong?"

"I need your help. My friend...my friend has been captured."

"What!?"

"I got attacked earlier, and my friend Ness saved me. But then this really weird and creepy fat man showed up and attacked us. Ness saved me again, but he got hit and was turned into a trophy. And...all I did was run away! I want to help him, but I-I'm too scared to go by myself. That's why I need your help. Please, help me save Ness!"

Red stood there in shock. He didn't want to believe that something this this could happen to such a young kid, but he could tell just by the look on Lucas' face how serious this was.

"Alright Lucas, how about we make a deal?" The young boy looked at him, "If you help me find Ivysaur and Charizard, I'll help you find your friend. With them, we'll be able to cover a lot more ground and find him quicker."

Lucas thought about it for a moment before asking, "Do you promise?"

"Yeah, and when I make a promise, I never break it," The young boy was silent for a few seconds before nodding in agreement, "Great. Come on, let's get out of here. I don't think that guy is still here, and I don't want to be in this place any longer."

The two boys set off, hopeful that both of their searches will yield fruitful results very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in mind that my knowledge of Earthbound is rather rubbish, and yes, Pokemon Trainer is going to be referred to as Red in this story, because, let's face it, it's essentially Red.


	8. The Battlefield Fortress

How often has one looked over the aftermath of a fierce battle? How does one feel walking through the war scarred land, feeling the events of the battle enter their minds? Hearing the shouts of those fighting, the sound of arrows flying, cannons blaring, catapults launching, swords clashing, and the final breaths of the fallen soldiers. It's a feeling that is overpowering, one that numbs the mind and clouds the senses.

And this old battlefield was no different.

Arrows punctured the dirt and dust covered landscape, scattered so much it almost appeared to be grass twigs. Catapults laid abandoned, their wooden structure rotting away from the time they spent untouched. And a castle, on of the central seeds of the conflict of the battle, stood tall and, while in tack, reeked of emptiness.

It was an area not many dared to care for, and one many didn't even remember.

The perfect place to set off an explosion.

Two robots have been sent there by the Ancient Minister to set off a bomb. With no one around, they wouldn't have to worry about a resistance and the Subspace creatures would be able to reproduce more efficiently. Once they set the bomb in place, they activated it. And as they waited out the timer, they began to feel grief. In order for the bomb to detonate, it needed their cooperation the entire process, even as it exploded. Even if they didn't have to be there all the way through, the bomb locked them in when they activated it, preventing them from even being able to move. But as they were told by their master, sacrifices had to be made in order for the Subspace to flourish.

So they had no choice but to submit and accept it.

The timer ticked its last second and the bomb exploded, covering a large area of the war scarred land in a massive dark purple dome. The explosion was creating a powerful suction, drawing in the dust and dirt that covered the land and creating a breeze that reached the abandoned castle in the distance.

Or at least they thought it was abandoned.

Even though this land was the remains of an intense battle, very few were even aware that someone still resided here. Someone who refused to allow his home to crumble under the sands of time. And on the top of the castle he stood. A young swordsman clad in blue, a long flowing cape behind him and his sword sheathed in its hilt at his side. This was Marth, prince of Altea. He watched in shocked horror as the explosion happened, the wind caused by it flowing through his cape and ocean blue hair.

' _What is that?'_

As he continued to look, he saw an army of the creatures begin to form and make way towards his castle, lead by the Ancient Minister, who was flying overhead.

"SPREAD OUT. THIS LAND IS OURS TO CONTROL."

' _Control?'_ Marth overheard the robots words and was shocked at what he heard. But that quickly morphed into rage and determination. _'Not on my watch!'_ Marth pulled out his sword, the Falchion, and held it up, letting the light glimmer off it and shine, catching the Ancient Ministers eye.

"STORM THE CASTLE. SEIZE ALL YOU FIND."

The creatures turned their attention to the castle and rushed towards it.

' _Try as you might, but you will not take my home from me!'_

Marth jumped from his post and headed inside the castle. When he got inside, he was horrified to find that the creatures had already infiltrated their way inside. Looks like he had no other choice; he had to fight them off.

As he made his way through the castle, he fought against an assortment of Primids (which were using their spores to make swords) and Spaaks, but he also found some rather interesting creatures.

The first were creatures that were decapitated floating heads covered with a knights helmet and had two long thin black arms with spearheads attached to them called Armights. They proved to be very sneaky, being able to appear out of nowhere and smoothly move around, and attacked by slashing their arms and throwing the spearheads as projectiles, which they could regenerate. But since they were very similar to knights he had fought in the past, Marth had no trouble disposing of them.

The other strange creature he found was one that resembled a single-wheeled motorcycle called Roaders. When they caught sight of him, they charged at him with great speed, attempting to ram him, and showed to have great maneuverability as they could easily turn if they missed. Marth decided to wait for them to charge at him before attacking with a powerful slash, which had no trouble taking them out.

Marth reached the outside of the castle and saw that the gates protecting the castle were still up.

' _They were able to get in without even needing to breach the walls? Still...it seems that they're after me more than my home. I have to lead them away.'_

He opened the gate and stepped out. Scanning the horizon, he saw more of those creatures. Though they weren't exactly what he was searching for.

' _I don't see him anywhere...I hope he's okay…'_

Maintaining his focus, he continued onward, defeating more of the creatures, before he reached the site of the explosion. The dome created from it was more massive up close, nearly the size of his castle. The energy within it swirled and pulsed, giving off an uneasy feeling that made Marth feel like his skin was crawling.

' _This energy is overwhelming. Just what is this?'_

As he continued to observe this strange phenomenon, he heard something coming towards him at an incredible speed. He quickly turned and drew his sword, blocking the attack of another swordsman.

He was much more shorter than Marth, his body in a sphere shape that was almost entirely covered by a mask with a "v"-shaped carve revealing two yellow eyes. He was clad in traditional knight armor (aside from the bat wings behind him) and his sword was intricately cut, unlike anything Marth had seen before. The swordsman charged at him again, his bat wings making him glide over the ground, and Marth readied himself. The two matched each other blow for blow, countering each other's attacks. But when a few Primids jumped on their backs, they immediately attacked them and got rid of them. Though this had surprised both of them.

The two swordsman looked at each other before the smaller one spoke, "Did you just attack those things?"

Before Marth could answer, they were suddenly surrounded by a small army of the creatures.

"We'll talk later. We have to get rid of these things."

The prince nodded before they readied themselves to fight the army. The army was mostly consisted of Primids (with various weapons) and another new enemy. This one was a small robot consisted of only a head and arms holding a silver bucket and a propeller attached to its head called Buckots. They flew overhead and dropped what appeared to be molten melted coins on them. They had to trick them down to the ground in order to attack them, else they'll simply fly out of their reach. But with the skill and strength the two swordsmen had, defeating these enemies weren't much trouble, even when a Greap showed up.

Once they were done, they looked at each other and, again, the smaller one spoke first, "So, you're not associated with those things?"

The prince shook his head.

"Then I hope you can forgive me, I acted too hastily. I've been tracking these things for a while; I hope they aren't getting the best of me."

"Why are you following them?"

"They've stolen something of value to me. This green robot, one who calls himself the Ancient Minister, he's the one who lead the attack. If I can find him, I can get back what's mine." He paused for a moment, "Well, my name's Meta Knight. You are?"

"Marth," He gave a slight bow, "If you're looking for that Ancient Minister, then allow me to help. He brought those monsters to my home, so I have some vengeance to seek myself."

Meta Knight was slightly taken back by his offer, but he saw that he was willing to help, "Very well. Thank you."

Marth gave a quick smile before they set off. The creatures had spread out more throughout the area, so they followed the areas they were appearing in the most to see if it could lead them to the Ancient Minister. They had come across the creatures from before, along with Feyeshs and an entirely new enemy. It was a creature with a red body shaped like a tank and a knights helmet planted on top of it called Autolances. True to their name, they attacked them by drawing forth a lance from their bodies to attack both close up and from a distance. But after a precise blow to the head, they found the knights helmet was covering a large yellow siren light. Not much changed when it was revealed, aside from the creature becoming a bit more ruthless, but they found a strategy to take it down easy. They would have one of them distract the creature while the other snuck up behind and attacked it, being that it had no methods of defending itself from behind.

As they continued on, they saw that the monsters in their path were becoming more abundant.

"Hnn, at this rate we'll lose the Ancient Minister before we can defeat all these things."

Marth saw the predicament they were in as well, but he found a ray of hope when he spotted a familiar cave.

"I have an idea!"

Marth grabbed Meta Knight by his cape (which he realized they doubled as his bat wings) and dragged him with ease to the cave at fast speeds. After all, it wasn't like he was heavy.

"Marth, what are you doing?"

"You said yourself that we won't reach him in time with all those things in the way. I know a way to get past those things and reach him."

The prince continued to drag him until they reached the deeper cavern of the cave. When Marth let him go, Meta Knight took a look at the interior.

It was a tunnel that seemed to stretch on long based on the light provided by the lanterns hanging from the walls. And leading into the tunnel was a set of tracks with a mine cart placed on it.

"Marth, what is this place?"

"It's an old mine system I found some time ago. We'll be able to avoid those things if we use this."

"Are you sure this will work?"

Marth jumped into the mine cart and looked at him, "I'm sure."

Seeing no reason to argue back, Meta Knight joined him in the minecart before they set off. Meta Knight took in the sights of the old mining tunnels, but that was put on hold when a hoard of the creatures appeared a few feet in front of them. But Marth showed no dismay. He increased the speed of the minecart and rammed into them. They essentially became a speeding battering ram, none of the creatures were able to withstand the force of it, and those that were able to avoid them were found at the mercy of a powerful sword swing. Meta Knight couldn't help but marvel at the scene occurring before him.

' _This boy's confidence and bravery are unbelievable. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this since I first met Kirby.'_

Eventually, the tracks came to an end and the minecart stopped. The two swordsmen left and exited the cave, finding themselves on the other side of the vast field and away from any of the creatures.

"There!" Meta Knight pointed to the horizon where the Ancient Minister could be seen floating a few feet away, floating off the ground.

The two stormed after the robot, but he heard them behind him and moved fast enough to just barely dodge Marth's sword slash. Meta Knight flew up and tried to attack him from up close, but he fired a laser at him, one that he barely dodged, leaving a small singe on his cape as he landed on the ground.

"META KNIGHT, I'M SURPRISED TO SEE THAT YOU STILL PURSUE ME. BUT YOU KNOW FULLY WELL THAT RESISTING THE SUBSPACE WILL ONLY END IN YOUR DEMISE."

"So long as I still breathe, I will continue to fight until I get the Halberd back."

"You, just what exactly are you planning?!"

The Ancient Minister stared directly at the prince, "THAT INFORMATION IS CLASSIFIED TO ALL THOSE AGAINST US, PRINCE MARTH LOWELL."

He was completely stunned, "How...How do you know my name?"

Meta Knight was shocked by what the Ancient Minister said. _'This boy is a prince?'_

"IT IS NOT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW THAT. BUT ORDERS OF MY MASTER SIMPLY SAY TO SPREAD THE REALM OF THE SUBSPACE AND ELIMINATE ALL WHO OPPOSE US," They saw an almost malicious glint in his eyes, "AND THAT IS WHAT I PLAN TO DO."

The Ancient Minister launched a laser assault on the two swordsmen. The two raised their shields up to protect themselves from the rapid red lasers that were striking them and the ground around them, flurrying up their vision with dust, Meta Knight used his bat wings to blow away the dust and he saw the condition Marth was in. His shield was beginning to wade down from taking one too many attacks, and the confidence and bravery he saw in the prince before was beginning to fade into a look of steadily growing fear.

"Marth!"

He tried calling out to him, but he was too far gone, and his shield was mere moments away from breaking.

Then, in the loudest voice he could muster, the prince shouted, "Watashi o tasuketekudasai, Aiku-kun!"

Meta Knight then caught a glimpse of a sword being thrown up, grabbed by a figure-

"Great Aether!"

-and brought down with a heavy strike on the Ancient Minister.

"WARNING! WARNING! DAMAGE LEVELS AT 20%! SUBSPACE BOMB DETACHED AND DEACTIVATED!"

The Ancient Minister flew off spastically, leaving a stream of smoke in the air. The dust cleared away, and the two swordsmen saw the bomb laying on the ground, a large gash from where it was struck with sparks of dark purple energy coming off it, and the man responsible next to it, holding a long and powerful sword in his hands.

He appeared to be older than Marth, not by much, though his clothing didn't indicate that he was royalty like him. It was a simple blue tunic, beige pants, a long tattered red cape flowing behind him and his unruly dark blue hair was held back by a green headband tied around his head. This was the mercenary, Ike.

"You should have known," The swordsman stood up, slinging his sword onto his shoulder like it was a twig, "No one is going to lay a hand on him while I'm around."

"Aiku-kun!"

Meta Knight was surprised to see the prince run up to the mercenary and give him a quick embrace before looking at him.

"Marth, you okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

Meta Knight ran up to them and caught their attention, "We need to hurry if we're going to catch him."

The two other swordsmen nodded and the three immediately gave chase, following the trail of smoke left from the attack. But it seemed as though the Ancient Minister had planned ahead and set up a small pack of enemies to stall them. They fought off various creatures they came across earlier, one of which was actually new. They were small humanoid creatures with white round bodies called Nagagogs. At first, they started off small, roughly the size of Meta Knight, and had blue highlights on their body. But upon getting hit, they grew in size, becoming roughly the size of Marth, and their blue highlights turned yellow. They became more aggressive, but not much trouble. But when they were low on health, they grew once more, nearly 3 times the size of Ike, and their highlights became red. They were much more ferocious now, their punches and stomps were brutal and they could take a hit rather well. The three swordsmen had to work together to take them down and prevent them from growing out of control.

During the fight, Meta Knight was able to make some observations on the mercenary. While Marth fought gracefully and conniving, Ike displayed pure strength and brutality. And the two swordsmen fought together in perfect unison, mowing down anything that dared to come near them.

' _These boys are one perfect duo. Just what are they to one another?'_

Once they took care of the creatures, they continued after the robot. But they were stopped at the edge of a cliff, and they could see the Ancient Minister floating away in the distance.

"Looks like he's not willing to give up that easy," Ike spoke, sheathing his sword.

"He'll likely go back to his base to repair himself, or more specifically my ship."

Marth looked over to Ike, "Aiku-kun, where have you been? I was worried those things got to you."

"Sorry about that, Marth. I was going to find you when I saw that explosion, but those things kept holding me back."

"Oh, all right. Are you sure you're okay? Those creatures were rather vile."

"I feel like I should be asking you that."

The prince smiled, "I told you, I'm fine. I had his help for a while."

The mercenary looked down at the small knight, "Thanks for keeping an eye on him for me. The name's Ike, by the way."

"Meta Knight."

Marth also looked down at the small knight, "Meta Knight, if he is going back to your ship, we have to follow after him."

"You're right, let's go. You're welcome to join us, Ike."

"You really think I'm letting him go anywhere without me?" He casted a smirk to Marth that made the prince chuckle.

"Very well then."

The three swordsmen set off and began their pursuit of the Ancient Minister.

* * *

 

In another part of the region, in a small green plain dotted with healthy trees and a straight dirt path crossing over small hills, a Waddle Dee was casually walking along. But as he made his way up one hill, he was sighted by someone else. An Italian plumber clad in green, timid and always in the shadows of his older brother. (A/N No offence Luigi, but Brawl came out before the year of Luigi, so gotta stay cannon)

It was Luigi.

When he caught sight of the approaching Waddle Dee, he prepared himself.

' _Remember Luigi, just like how you practiced.'_

.He got into his "fighting" stance and put on an intimidating look (or at least he tried to). When the Waddle Dee got near him and looked at him, he raised his arms up, looking ready to attack, though it was just a part of his act.

"Y-You, g-get away! Y-You don't know who you're dealing with!"

The Waddle Dee simply looked away and continued it's stroll nonchalantly. Luigi felt a sense of victory, but that's when another Waddle Dee appeared and approached him, making him go back into his "brave" persona.

"H-Hey, get b-back! I'm n-not afraid to fight!"

Unbenounced to him, someone else had beaten to the punch. Someone had snuck up behind him, gave a powerful swing of a massive wooden hammer and sent Luigi flying into the sky. When he came back down to the ground, now in his trophied form, he was caught on the flat end of the hammer and placed on the ground. And the one responsible for this? None other than the King of Dreamland himself, King Dedede.

He slung his mighty hammer on his shoulder and let out a laugh, "Ha, I still got it!"

He gave the trophied Luigi a little dust off as his Waddle Dees surrounded him.

"You all remember the plan?" His Waddle Dees all gave a nod, "Good, then let's get to it. Our target is on his way now." The king and his subjects hid in the forestation of the grassy plains, waiting for their target to show up.

Turns out their target just so happened to be Wario, riding through the plains on his hover car, a flat flying vehicle with a machine crane arm attached to it and the "W" initial displayed on its sides. Wario was steering from the front and behind him in the car was the trophied Zelda and Ness. Once he caught sight of the trophied Luigi on the road, he stopped the car and jumped out. Walking up to him, he acted as though he was walking up to scare him, reenacting what he would usually do, except when he gave his scare, all he met was a blank expression of a dull gray trophy. Yet he couldn't help but laugh and picked him up.

"Luigi, you just made my job 10 times easier!"

"Now! Attack!"

With a silent order from Dedede, the Waddle Dees charged from their hiding spots and ambushed Wario.

"Wha- H-Hey, what are- OW- Get off me, you rotten things!"

Wario couldn't handle the small armada of Waddle Dees and was knocked to the ground, the trophied Luigi flying out of his hands and landing upside down in his car. The car in which Dedede was now controlling.

"Perfect. We're done here, Waddle Dees!"

Dedede steered the car and started off in the opposite direction Wario was traveling, his Waddle Dees following after him. When Wario was finally free from the onslaught, he saw the king and his subjects speeding off in his car.

"Hey, you! Get back here!" He screamed at them, but they were gone in mere moments. He slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh, "The boss is gonna be so upset with me…"


	9. The Forest

The deepest shrouds of the darkest forests can often hold a plethora of unimaginable things. Unimaginable creatures, unimaginable locales, unimaginable forestation. And on the most rarest of occasions, unimaginable treasures. And one such treasure lied within this dark dense forest.

The Hero of Time from Hyrule, Link, was being led by his tiny blue fairy, Navi, through the dense forest to find the treasure stolen from him. For a while, he's seen nothing but thick trees, bushes and brambles of plant life. He was beginning to question if his partner even knew where it was going.

"Look!"

Just when he was beginning to lose hope, they found a pedestal holding the treasure he was searching for. The Master Sword. Walking up to the pedestal, he grabbed his sword, the power within it resonating with his Triforce of Courage, letting him pull the sword free. He held it up, relishing that it wasn't damaged in anyway, before placing it in his sheath.

"That's better."

"But why would someone steal your Master Sword?"

"It's a weapon that has dispelled evil for generations, makes sense why someone would take it."

"Yeah, you're right. Anyway, let's get out of here."

He let his partner lead the way as they made their leave from the forest. After a few minutes, they came across a small clearing. The trees were all pushed back, letting the sunlight breach through and bathe the lush, fertile grass. Link was immediately showered in the warmth of the day that hasn't wasn't able to reach him since they entered the forest. He lavished in it, feeling the comfort of the sun's rays soothe every nerve in his body.

"Hey, look!"

Link was broken out of his trance when his partner flew over to a nearby stump. On it laid a little green dinosaur enjoying a very pleasant snooze.

"Oh, it's Yoshi."

"Yeah," The fairy said, scanning all over the sleeping dinosaur, "He's in a pretty deep sleep. He's sleeping deeper than you do, Link."

The swordsman held back the snide remark he was going to make towards his companion, "Well, let's leave him be. Probably needs the sleep."

"Right." The fairy went back to its original position, but before they could continue on, the warmth of the sun suddenly vanished, "Huh? Where did-"

The fairy and the Hylian were silenced when they looked up and saw the cause of this. The Halberd moved overhead, surrounding the sky it traveled through with dark red clouds. It spread more spores throughout the forest, the strange creatures forming right in front of them.

"Navi, what are those things?!"

"I-I don't know!"

Link drew forth his sword and shield, "Hide yourself, Navi. We don't know how dangerous these things are."

"Right!" The little fairy immediately hightailed it and disappeared into Link's body.

' _Just what are these things? The energy coming off them is completely different.'_ His thoughts raced as the Triforce in his hand began to glow and burn fiercely. He then glanced back at the small dinosaur still sleeping on the stump. _'I might need some help this time.'_

"Yoshi! Wake up!"

Hearing his friend's voice, the little dinosaur woke up and walked over to him, his eyes still sleepy and half-lidded. But when he looked over and saw the creatures, he was shocked fully awake.

"Yoshi," His friend's voice caught his attention, "I'm going to need your help to take these things down. We don't know what trouble they could cause."

Even though he didn't know fully what was going on, he couldn't risk something terrible happening to one of his friends. So he wholeheartedly agreed to join him and fend off those creatures.

As they traveled through the dense forest, they fought a wide plethora of the creatures, including Primids, Bucculus', Auroros', Tickens, Feyeshs, Fire Primids and Mites. But they also came across some rather interesting new ones.

The first were tall, lanky mannequin-like creatures that hung from strings attached to them by the trees called Puppits. They moved around almost effortlessly and attacked them by either slashing at them with their long sharp claws attached to their hands or shooting beams of energy at them from their soulless eyes. While they proved to be tough, they were shown to have severe limits due to them being attached to strings in order to move. So Link and Yoshi were able to use this to their advantage to turn their encounters with these things in their favor.

The next creature they came across was flat, making it resemble a magic carpet, with heads attached to them called Trowlons. They floated around effortlessly and attempted to scoop up Yoshi and Link off their feet and bring them up into the air, likely to drop them down to the ground. But they quickly discovered that this was their only means of attacking them. And they found out that they didn't take many hits to take them down. In truth, they were probably the most pathetic creature they discovered. (A/N yeah, I'm bashing the Trowlons, but let's face it, they suck)

The last one they discovered wasn't exactly the same case. They were large quadruped creatures with stump shaped legs and a durable brown with antlers covering their entire body called Shellpods. They attacked them by ramming them with their antlers, which proved to be quite painful due to the incredible strength of the shell. But their shell proved to not be impenetrable. After enough hits, the shell would break apart, revealing the creatures lanky green body. It would be in shock over losing its shell for a quick second, leaving it open to attack. And it didn't exactly have any threatening means of attacking upon losing its shell. So, they weren't too much trouble to handle once they broke their shell.

Once the duo managed to get rid of the creatures in the area, they followed the direction the ship flew and eventually made it out of the forest, though they were stopped by the edge of a cliff face and saw the Halberd flying off in the distance.

"That ship had created those creatures we saw back there," He figured that Yoshi could use some information on what was happening, "I'm going after it."

"Link, are you sure that's a good idea?" Navi's voice chimed in.

"If those things were here, who knows where else they might be. And if that ship is what's making those things, we have to go after it to stop this."

The fairy was silent for a few seconds, "...Okay, but be careful. This could get really dangerous."

"Can't be any different than what I go through," He looked at the dinosaur and smiled, "Thanks for the help, Yoshi. I'll see you soon." He thanked him before running off. But he didn't get too far, since he heard footsteps behind him, and saw that Yoshi was following him. "You want to come along?" The green dinosaur nodded, a look of determination in his eyes, "Alright then, let's go."

The two set off, unknowingly joining in the growing army against the Subspace.

 

But they were not the only ones in the fight. Someone else had already gotten ahead of all the heroes currently set out. But now was not the right moment for him to strike. Not just yet.

Just a little longer.


	10. The Research Facility Part 1

In this intense battle against the strange creatures and the ever growing invasion of the Subspace, no one has been able to determine where exactly they are getting the bombs from. The research facility they have inhabited and have been producing the bombs have been kept hidden from everyone, with the facility being in a rather discrete location. No one knew where they were, and that worked to their advantage. They created the bombs, the Ancient Minister delivers them throughout the area and they were kept hidden from those who opposed them.

Well, almost everyone.

Who could possibly find such a low key unknown area? Only someone who has discovered worlds and species unknown to the entire universe. The famous intergalactic bounty hunter, Samus Aran.

Yes, she had found their base of operations and was preparing to take it down from the inside, along with getting back something important to her. Her Power Suit. She had been attacked a few days prior and they had managed to steal her suit. But she was able to track down where it was hidden; within the research facility, which was cleverly hidden by being built on a floating island. And now it was time to take action.

Breaking through the air vent she was crawling through, she managed to map out the safest path to get to her suit. After all, being equipped with only her aqua blue zero suit and her stun gun didn't give her the sense of safety she felt whenever she was within her suit. So she couldn't afford bringing attention to herself.

' _Time to go.'_

Samus set off, keeping herself hidden as she explored the facility. She came across the guards of the facility, the robots that activate the bombs, referred to as R.O.B's. There were different variations of them; ones that fought more physically, ones that shot lasers and ones that launched slow moving homing missiles. Though she had to take some of them down, she made sure to do it discreetly to avoid too many of them spotting her. Being in the enemy's main base essentially made her a walking target, and she had no intentions of being riddled with holes.

Soon after, she managed to find a room that was completely uninhabited. Upon entering, it was dimly lit and there didn't seem to be much in it. But as she walked in, a sudden green light and the electric wiring of a machine caught her attention. She saw a strange capsule machine that appeared to be draining power from something. And when she looked at what was inside the capsule, she immediately recognized what it was.

And she was horrified.

"Pikachu!"

The electric mouse Pokemon looked over upon hearing the bounty hunter's voice, a look of searing pain and exhaustion was etched on it's face. It looked like it had been suffering this treatment for hours on end.

"Pi...ka…" Its cry sounded so weak and pained.

Samus watched as the machine started up and again and sent Pikachu into another fit of pain. With quick thinking, she activated the electric whip equipped into her pistol and struck the machine, disabling it and breaking open the capsule holding Pikachu. An alarm immediately started blaring, but she didn't mind it in the slightest as she cradled the Pokemon in her arms.

"Pikachu, are you okay?!" The Pokemon gave a small nod as it looked up at her, "It's okay, you're safe now."

She heard the door to the room open and saw a horde of the R.O.B robots entered and locked their sights directly on her.

"INTRUDER DETECTED! INTRUDER DETECTED!"

"INTRUDER HAS REMOVED POKEMON SUBJECT!"

"ELIMINATE INTRUDER AND RETRIEVE POKEMON SUBJECT!"

"You can try, but you're not hurting Pikachu again!" She held Pikachu in one arm and had her electric whip, ready to fight, in the other. But then the Pokemon jumped out of her arm, standing strong and brave against the small army of R.O.B's, electricity sparking from it's cheeks. "Are you still able to fight?" The Pokemon looked up at her and nodded, smiling, "...Alright, just stay close." Making quick work of the robots in the room, the duo set off.

The triggered alarm had alerted all the nearby enemies of the two,so they were almost immediately attacked. Not only by the R.O.B robots, but also the strange creatures. Bytans, Buckots, Roturrets and a new species of Primids.

Their bodies were entirely made of metal and their eyes a fierce red; they were called metal Primids. Not only did they prove to be incredibly sturdy and their attacks rather fierce, but their bodies were proven to be reflective, as any type of projectile thrown at them bounced off like it was nothing. (A/N I never actually knew this until I looked it up recently. I hardly ever use items or long ranged attacks in the story mode) The one upside to them was that they attacked rather slow, so they had a chance to react and dodge them.

The two took refuge in an empty room, listening as the footsteps of the robots and creatures passed by and slowly faded away. Once they knew they were safe, they took a look at the room they were in. It was lit up by the almost countless amount of monitors that covered nearly all the walls of the small room. The monitors showed the various rooms in the facility, coverage of other areas within the region and the view of the R.O.B enemies that were out in the field.

"Maybe this can be some help." Samus started to survey the various monitors, seeing if she can find any trace of where her suit was. She felt something on her back and saw that Pikachu was climbing up until it perched itself on her shoulder. She smiled and petted its head before asking, "How do you feel?" Pikachu gave her a smile and a thumbs up, "Good. You've been through a lot recently, haven't you?" It nodded again and pointed towards the screens. She knew what it was asking and answered, "I'm looking for my Power Suit. Those things that put you in that machine stole it and brought it here. Mind helping me find which room it's in?" The Pokemon nodded and the two carefully scanned each monitor to make sure no detail was missed.

After a few minutes, Pikachu tapped her and pointed towards one of the screens. And there she saw it. Her Power Suit, locked away in a capsule, within a secluded room.

"Perfect. Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW, any chapters that take place in the same location more than once, will be labeled as part 1, part 2, etc.


	11. The Lake Shore

"Oh, where can he be? We've been looking everywhere."

Kirby and Peach had been searching for any signs of Mario ever since they've gotten back to the surface. But so far, they've found no trace of him. In fact, they haven't found a trace of anyone who can help. All they've been running into are those strange creatures. And their numbers just seem to be getting larger and larger.

Their search had led them to a desolate plain with a simple dirt path, small grass covered hills and resting next to it, a large clear blue lake. Though it wasn't able to display its beauty, since the sky above was rather cloudy, blocking the sunlight and dampening the area, giving it a rather empty feel.

As the two walked down the path, Peach heard Kirby come to a sudden stop and turned to look at him, "What is it, Kirby?" He was looking around restlessly, trying to find something, "Did you hear something? See something?" He gave a quick nod as he continued frantically scanning the area. Then something caught his eye and he sped off in the opposite direction of where they were walking. "Kirby, wait!" She called out to him, but he was already too far gone, "I guess I should follow after him."

But before she could take a step, she heard a loud thud behind her and something charge up. She turned around and just barely let out a gasp before she felt a powerful force impale her body, and her trophied body fell to the ground.

Bowser loomed over the trophied princess, holding the gun in his hands, and laughed, "You should know that you can never escape me, princess." Bowser looked to his side and saw a dark doppelgänger of himself, much like the one he used on Fox and Diddy, walk up and stare at the trophied princess, "She's yours." Upon hearing those words, the doppelgänger dissolved into spores and they immediately swarmed the trophied princess' body.

They were, essentially, copying her data. Noting every detail of her physique, posture, and capabilities. After a few seconds, they detached themselves from the trophy and took a new form. A dark doppelgänger of Peach.

Bowser observed the creation and smiled, "Perfect. Now for your assignment…"

...

"Hey, Mario! Wait up!"

Pit called out as he attempted to keep up with Mario, who was sprinting down the dirt road.

"I think I saw the Ancient Minister head this way. We have to hurry to catch him!"

Picking up his pace, the angel kept up with Mario as they ran down the path. But they were so focused on the task at hand, they didn't notice what was observing them on one of the hills.

The doppelgänger Peach saw them coming closer and pulled out the gun that was given to it and began to charge it up. But just as it was about to fire the gun as Mario and Pit got in its crosshairs, it felt something rush against it and knock the gun out of its hands. With a quick slash, the gun was cut in half and exploded. The doppelgänger looked over and saw Link, who was lowering his sword, and Yoshi glaring at it.

"Peach, what are you doing?!" The Hylian screamed at her, but took a moment to observe her. Her darkened colors, the purple aura radiating around her and her piercing yellow eyes that were filled with malice, rage and the desire to destroy them.

The latter of which was proved by how she took out her golf club, ready to attack them.

Even though they didn't want to hurt her, he knew that something was wrong with Peach. She had to be stopped.

"Yoshi, we have to defeat her."

Yoshi looked at the Hylian, restraint showing on his face. He didn't want to hurt Peach as much as Link did. After all, whenever she would bake a cake, she would always save a piece for the little dinosaur. But he could tell that something was wrong as well, so he had no other choice.

He nodded as the two readied themselves to fight when "Peach" charged at them.

The way she fought was exactly as the Hylian and the dinosaur remember, but they quickly noticed the sheer brutality and force in the way she was fighting, so unlike the usual grace she had. It was as though they were fighting an entirely different person. It just made the situation all the more strange.

With one last attack from the Hylian and dinosaur, the princess was defeated and her trophied body hit the ground. It would have been a relief for them…

...if it didn't happen at the worst possible moment.

Mario and Pit were passing by the hill they were on and Mario caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. Coming to a halt, he looked up and saw two green figures. But what really caught his attention was the trophy of Peach lying on the ground. The moment he caught sight of that, he bolted up the hill, leaving the angel behind in confusion.

"Wait, Mario! Where are you going?" He seemed too focused to answer his question, so Pit went and followed after him.

As the two ran up the hill, Link and Yoshi watched as the trophied Peach dissolved into spores and faded away, leaving the two shocked.

' _A copy?!'_

As Link tried to figure out what just happened, he heard footsteps rushing up behind him. He just barely managed to move out the way as Mario jumped up and hit the ground with a powerful punch. As he looked up and saw Link and Yoshi, he stared at them with a look of pure anger.

"Link! Yoshi! How could you do this?!"

' _He saw that!'_ "Mario, it's not what you think! She-"

"Mario! What's wrong? What happened?"

Link watched as the angel finally reached the top of the hill and stood by the plumber.

"They attacked Peach! And they're supposed to be my friends!"

"What?!" Pit's shock morphed into rage as he glared at the green duo while readying his bow, "You must be in allegiance with the Ancient Minister! And you dare call yourself Mario's friend?!"

"What?! Who even are you, anyway?"

"I'm Pit, servant of the goddess Palutena! And I will not allow anyone to threaten the people of this world, especially those such as you!"

Link recoiled back at the intensity of their rage induced words, "Yoshi, it's no use. They're not listening," He whispered and looked over to the little dinosaur, who had also recoiled back in fear. But he also had a look of worry. Worry as to what might happen.

The Hylian tried once more to reason with his longtime friend, "Mario, do not force me to do this. You have to listen-"

"No," He said bluntly, "I can't trust you. Not now!"

That seemed to be the last they were willing to take, as the plumber and the angel charged at them, ready to fight. The green duo readied themselves to take them on. To make things easier, Link decided to handle Mario, while Yoshi handled Pit.

Mario was just as strong and skilled as Link remembered, but he dreaded that he was fighting his friend due to a misunderstanding. At some points, he felt the urge to hold back on his force, but he knew he had to fight at full power, else he would get completely overpowered by the plumber.

Yoshi was having an equally difficult time, but for different reasons. Since this was the very first time he ever fought Pit, he had to learn how exactly he fought through this battle.

Seeing that he was beginning to tire out, Link struck Mario with a powerful slash. That proved to be all he could take, as he reverted to his trophy form. Pit noticed it out of the corner of his eye and turned his attention to it.

"Mari-" Before he could finish, he was hit with a powerful head bash from Yoshi and joined Mario's trophied body on the ground with his own.

Link walked to the trophied figures, slightly panting from the previous battle, "Well, at least that's settled. Now let's revive them." Yoshi looked at him rather shocked and confused, "This whole thing is a misunderstanding. Maybe now they'll listen to us." Even though he was hesitant, Yoshi let the Hylian approach the trophied figures.

But before he could reach out to them, he heard something quickly approaching.

Looking to his side, he saw something speed down the road. He only caught a second long glimpse of it, so he couldn't make out much of what it was. But he could make out something it was carrying.

Or rather, someone.

"Zelda!"

The speeding object slowed and turned, revealing it to be Dedede driving Wario's car, with the three trophied figures in the back. He sped back at them and used the car's claw arm to scoop up the trophy Mario and Pit.

"Haha, yes! Two in one go!"

But before he could celebrate, something else latched onto the claw arm. A round pink figure.

"Wha- Kirby?!"

With quick movements, Kirby slashed the claw arm, freeing Mario and Pit, and touched both of their golden bases, restoring them before the three landed on the ground.

Mario looked at Kirby and gave him a proud smile, "Great job, Kirby!" He was rewarded with a cheerful grin.

"Mario, he's coming back!"

They saw Dedede speeding at them, and with quick thinking, Pit readied his bow and shot at the speeding car. It still rushed past them, but as they looked back at it, they could see it breaking down and slowing.

"Quick, we have to catch up to him!"

Link and Yoshi gave chase after the slowly breaking car, and Mario, Pit and Kirby followed after them.

As they were running, the angel asked, "I don't understand. Who even was that?" Kirby tried to explain, but he couldn't understand his strange language, "Um, what is he saying?"

Mario answered, "He said that was someone he knows. Said his name is Dedede."

"Dedede? But, what exactly is he doing out here?"

"I know that he can't be up to anything pleasant. I saw what was in the car! He has Zelda!"

"What?! But, Pit, you said you saw Wario take her!"

"I did! But, if that Dedede has her... He must be a part of the great danger!"

"Then let's hurry! We have to stop him!"

The five of them kicked it into high gear in pursuit of Dedede, but they were slowed down by the appearance of the strange creatures. They work to defeat them as quick as possible, but there are quite a few creatures for them to face off against. Mites, Tickens, Spaaks, Greaps, Bullet Bills, Bucculus' and an entirely new creature. They were small humanoids with black skinny bodies and large round bombs for heads called Bombeds. When one of them got near, they will remove their bomb heads and throw it at them, causing a small explosion. The bodies would then run away from them for a quick second before their heads regenerated so they could do it again. To take them down, they either attacked them from long range or trick them into running off the land and collide with the ground below, since they prove to be very fragile.

Eventually, the heroes were no longer alongside the lake, now within the large rural land. The path led them to the opening of a cave, though the well carved opening made it seem like a pre-carved tunnel. And next to the entrance was the car, broken down and empty.

"Looks like he headed inside."

"I guess we'll have to head in, too."

But before they did, Mario's voice stopped them, "Link?"

"Yeah, Mario?"

"... I'm sorry, for attacking you back there. You too, Yoshi," He apologized, looking guilty.

Link smiled warmly, "It's alright. Besides, if I was in your position and that was Zelda back there, I would have done the same thing." (A/N, see what I did there ;))

Yoshi also gave Mario a warm smile, letting him know he forgave him too.

"But still," Pit spoke up, "Something doesn't seem right," He bent down to look at Kirby, "Kirby, Peach was with you from what I saw. Do you know what happened to her?"

He answered with a worried look on his face. Link explain to the angel, "He said he doesn't know. They were looking for you and Mario back there, but when he went to check something, he came back and she was gone." He saw that this was a good time to bring something up, "Besides, when we defeated that Peach back there, she faded into spores just like those creatures."

This surprised the angel, "Huh, like the creatures?! I didn't think they could do that!"

"If that happened, they must have Peach. Now let's go!"

The five entered the cave opening, finding it to be a long series of tunnels. The cave prove to be swarming with traps and creatures. Many of the creatures they encountered earlier were present, along with Feyeshs and an entirely new species. They had lanky faded black bodies, making them resemble ghosts. Both hands were long sharp scythes, nearly as long as their bodies, and there was a red orb in the center of the bodies. They were called Shaydas. They appeared out of nowhere and attacked them by slashing their scythes at them, which had a long reach and were really powerful. Most of their body was invulnerable, except for the red orb in their body, which proved to be extremely sensitive. A well-placed hit would do them in with no problem, but since they protected the orb with their scythes hands, the heroes had to wait for them to attack in order to strike.

As they near the end of the cave, they saw a light signifying the exit. Once they made it out, they found themselves on a large cliff blocked off from the previous environment by large bare mountains and dulled by the numerous black clouds above. And on top of the cliff was an old withered stone castle.

Mario and Kirby speak up, "Hmm? That's Dedede's castle?"

"I guess that's where he must have done."

"Not only him. Take a look," Link pointed to the sky above the castle, where a group of the clouds began to glow red and the shadow of the Halberd came into view.

"Any time that ship shows up, trouble usually happens."

"Then let's hurry before it can start."

The five rushed towards the castle, hoping for them to make it on time.

But little did they know that they weren't the only ones making their way towards the castle.

...

Secluded from all others in a small dark room, a large, powerful and intimidating figure stood staring at a screen, giving him a clear view of his accomplice.

"Bowser, can you hear me?"

The Koopa King stared in the direction of the camera, making it seem like he was staring at his accomplice, "Perfectly. Have you found where he is?"

"He's retreated to his castle. It's not far from where you are. Get there and bring back anyone you find."

"Got it. Let's go!" The Koopa King screamed behind him and walked off screen, his various minions following behind him before the screen faded to static.

A menacing satisfied smirk grew on his face. The face of the King of Evil, Ganondorf.

"You didn't think you could hide from us forever, did you Dedede?"


	12. The Path to the Ruins

Searches can lead those embarking on one on quite the wide adventure, taking them to places they will never go to on another situation. That was the case for these two.

For Red, a search for new companions. And for Lucas, a search for a missing friend.

The boys searches have led them to a large, open desert plain, were on top of the large hill past, they could see a stone tower that practically touch the clouds.

"Red, what is that?" The younger boy asked.

"I think I heard of that place. It's supposed to be an old, abandoned mine."

"Huh, I wouldn't guessed that," Lucas silenced when he heard the sound of wing flaps growing steadily louder, "Red! That sound!"

The Pokemon trainer instantly perked up and look towards the sky. That's when he saw it. A large, majestic red dragon flying towards the mountain like mining facility.

"That's-!"

"No doubt, that's Charizard!" Red was ready to chase after it, and he turned to Lucas and said, "Come on, if we can get Charizard, we'll be able to find your friend in no time!"

The boy perked up at his words and smiled, "Right!"

The two rushed off, so full of energy and determination that nothing could stop them, not even creatures that attempted to block their path. And there was a large variety for them to deal with: Shellpods, Primids, Fire Primids, Puppits, Borboras, Armights, Nagagogs, and some new additions.

The first were tall creatures that resembled towers, with for yellow bases, each one growing smaller as they got higher up, and a circular rainbow colored head with a face called Gamygas. They sprung up from the ground as a method of surprise, and while their yellow basses didn't attack them, it kept the boys from attacking the head, which was the main source of their health. The heads mainly attacked them by shooting lasers down at them. The boys had to take out the bases first before they could attack the head and defeat them.

The other was a new type of an existing species, but not of the Primids. This time, it was of the Glunders. They had the same metallic round bodies with a single eye, but their hinges were red instead of yellow, and when they opened, it spewed fire instead of lightning. They were called Glires. But aside from those changes, they were the same creatures, and took the same effort and work to defeat them.

With the help of their energy and adrenaline rush, the boys made it to the entranceway of the mining facility, a dark passage lit up by torches. They walked along the pathway leading to the entrance, and came to a halt when they heard a roar coming from inside the cave.

"Red, was that Charizard?"

"Definitely. Looks like we'll have to follow it inside."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" He spoke with a smile.

Red couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm, "You're right. Let's go!"

"Going somewhere, runts?"

The sudden voice caught them off guard and stopped them in their tracks. They got a second long glimpse of a figure jump off one of the stone pillars aligned against the road and land in front of them, the shock knocking them back and clouding in the figure in smoke. Once cleared, it was revealed to be Wario. At the sight of him, memories rush to Lucas.

Red looked over and saw the young boy shaking, his fists clenched and a look of pure rage on his face, "Lucas, what's wrong?"

"Red... That's him! He's the one who took Ness!"

"What?!" He stood up in shock.

At first, Wario didn't recognize the young boy, but another glance made him remember. "Hey, I remember you. You're that little crybaby runt who ran off."

"Don't call him that!" His attention was caught by Red, "Why did you take his friend?!"

"Shut it, you brat! I've been having a rough day, and I'm just trying to follow the boss's orders!"

"Who is your boss? What are you trying to do?!"

"Where is he?! Where is Ness?!"

Seeing that both boys looked ready to fight, Wario figured this would be a good way to make up to his boss and let out some pent up anger, "If you want to see him so badly, I'll take you to him!"

Wario wasted no time and charged at the boys, who were both more than ready to fight. While he proved to be a tough and very dirty fighter, both figuratively and literally, the duo were not only stronger, but worked together to their advantage. Wario was quickly overpowered and, with a powerful blast of energy from Lucas, fell to the ground, now a still trophy.

Feeling incredibly relieved and happy, Lucas jumped up and high-fived Red, "We did it! We actually did it!"

Red looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, you did a great job there Lucas."

Seeing that Wario was no longer a threat, Lucas looked around to see if he could find a trace of Ness, but unfortunately found no trace of him anywhere and his smile faltered because of it.

"Lucas, what's wrong?"

"He...Ness isn't anywhere…"

Just as he felt he was about to cry, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to Red and saw that he was giving him an uplifting smile.

"Hey, don't worry. I told you that we will find him and I don't plan to break that promise. Just stay strong and we can do it."

His friends words made his smile returned and he nodded.

The two heard the roar of Charizard coming from deep within the cave and the two turned towards the entrance.

"Well, let's get going."

Lucas gave him a nod and he and Red rushed inside, hoping to find their target.

...

Slightly painting, Dedede entered the throne room of his castle and placed the three trophied figures down in front of his throne.

"Well...that could've gone better. Well, at least I was able to save you three." Reaching into the pocket of his cloak, he pulled out two golden badges that were shaped like his face and placed one on Ness' and Luigi's trophied body. As he was going to put one on Zelda's body, he realized he had no badges left. He looked down at the badge on his body and contemplate for a moment before sighing and taking the badge off of him and placed it on Zelda, "Well, you'll be needing this more than I will." He looked at the three trophies and smiled before he felt rumbling throughout the room. He looked up and only got a second long glimpse of the roof collapsing in before a block hit him on the head, making him pass out. The rest of the ceiling fell in, covering the room in a large mass of rubble, before Bowser and his minions landed inside and began to search around for the stolen trophies. The mess of rubble made it hard to find anything of value, until Bowser noticed the trophied Zelda peaking out from beneath the rubble.

"Well," He pulled out her trophied body from the rubble, "I guess you'll have to do."


	13. The Cave

Rushing into the castle, the five heroes bared through the door to the throne room, only to be met with the mass of rubble covering the entire room and the open hole in the ceiling, leaving them shocked.

"What on earth happened in here?!" Pit spoke first.

"Seems like someone else made it here before we did," Link spoke as he looked around the room.

"Question is, who?" Pit looked around as, "This place practically looks deserted."

Yoshi called out to the others and pointed over to the wall in the back of the room, which had a large holed bashed through it, creating a makeshift cave.

Mario and the others walked up to the opening and looked inside, "Seems like whoever was here left through this way. Well, let's go follow them. We might find out what happened in here."

The five heroes made their way into the cave and found that it was swarming with the strange creatures and, shockingly, Bowser's minions. They fought their way through, cutting down many enemies such as Goombas, Paratroopas, Hammer Bros, Koopas, Shellpods, Glires, Bullet Bills, Bucculus', and Giant Goombas. The appearance of the creatures was normal, but the appearance of Bowser's minions is what made them question really happening and only made their suspicions grow.

As they reach the exit to the cave, they found themselves outside on the edge of a cliff and could see a figure running towards it. Looking closely at the figure, they saw that it was Bowser rushing towards the cliff's edge, carrying Zelda's trophied body.

"Bowser! He has Zelda!"

Mario and others rushed towards Bowser, but he heard their footsteps rushing up behind him and turns just as Mario is readying to punch him. He stretched out Zelda's trophied body and used her as a makeshift shield, causing him to change his aim and punch the ground instead of him.

"Mario, you never seem to stop enjoying getting in my way."

"I can't help myself if I know you're always causing trouble like this. What exactly are you doing with Zelda?"

"Well Mario, that's for me to keep going with and for you to try to figure out. That is, if you can figure it out on time. Our plans are nearly complete."

Link walked up next to Mario and gave Bowser a look of sheer rage, "Plans? What do you mean by that?"

"Like I said before, that's a secret between us."

"Well, let's see how long that lasts!" Pit readied his bow and fires a shot at Bowser and misses him, but causes him to lose his balance and fall off the edge of the cliff, the badge on Zelda secretly falling off. But to their surprise, Bowser rises up within his Clown Copter, holding Zelda with him as he flew off towards the Halberd, laughing all the way.

"Well, I guess he's working with them as well huh?" Pit asked Mario as he walked up towards him.

"It seems like it. Now we just have more worried about."

"Well, let's not waste any more time here. We have to follow after them!"

They waste no time at all and took off, but not before Kirby noticed something on the ground. The golden badge that fell off of Zelda. He eyed it curiously, until he heard the others calling his name and simply swallow the badge whole before catching up with them.

...

With the area now deserted and empty, there was no need for it to exist anymore. This place has served its purpose in this world, and was now going to belong to the world of the Subspace.

Placing the Subspace bomb on the ground, the Ancient Minister released the latch holding it and allowed the two R.O.B robots to ready themselves to activate the bomb.

"THIS AREA IS OF NO USE ANYMORE. WE WERE ORDERED TO SEND IT TO THE SUBSPACE. I LEAVE THE TASK TO YOU."

The R.O.B robots activated the bomb, but as the Ancient Minister floated away, He found himself staring at this to the whole way through. This is the third time he had to witness his own robot-kind sacrifice themselves to activate the bombs. Sacrifice was something they were told to accept from the start, but how much more will they have to endure until the mission is complete? Many questions rushed through his system as he watched the two robots nod to each other in understanding as the explosion engulfed them into the realm of the Subspace. Just how many more of them will have to be sacrificed before the realm becomes completely engulfed in the Subspace, and how many more times will he have to watch his own kind kill themselves just to accomplish this mission? But most importantly, how much more of if will he have to see with his own two eyes?

"..."

...

Ganondorf watched as the image on the screen faded to a dark static, before showing a figure within a darkened world. The very being who was responsible for all this madness. Master Hand.

" _How are things going?"_

"Well, master. We reclaimed the stolen targets and are obtaining more land for the Subspace as we speak."

" _Good. Keep up the work, I'm counting on you to succeed."_

"As you wish," He bowed down to the image of Master Hand. But as the screen cut off, he did not notice the sinister smirk that slowly grew on his face.


	14. The Ruins

As the two young boys walked through the dark tunnels of the abandoned mines lit by prematurely lit torches, they couldn't help but feel as though they were walking through a deserted ruins. Everything felt like it was dropped and forgotten about in a moments notice, giving every corner of the mine feel empty and almost haunting. The uncertainty of what could be lurking around the corner set Lucas' nerves on end and made him make sure to remain as close to Red as possible.

"Uh, Red?"

"Yeah?"

"You said this was an old mine, but why was it abandoned?"

"Well, for the same reason any mine gets abandoned: it ran dry. Once they got everything they could find, they left. But from what I heard, before they left, they found something pretty special."

"What was it?"

"Apparently, when they were digging deep one day, they broke through the wall and found the entranceway to an ancient ruins. It was practically crawling with treasure and it was an archeologist's paradise for knowledge."

"Wow," Hearing his description made his imagination run wild at what it was like to find the ruins.

"It's no surprise that Charizard would come here. It's quite, secluded, expansive and gives it all the freedom to do whatever it pleases."

"If the place is this big, how are we going to find Charizard?"

"If I have to guess, we'll probably have to head to the depths of the ruins. It seems like it'll have the most space for it."

"Okay, let's go."

"Right," The boys picked up the pace, but were not long after, they found themselves attacked by the creatures, "Why am I not surprised to find these things here?"

"Well, we have to stop them!"

"You're definitely right there!"

The boys wasted no time and began to mow their way down the enemies, fighting through Borboras, Mites, Glires, Floows, Rotturets, Fire Primids, Metal Primids and Bytans. Eventually, as they made their way deep into the mines, they found a pre-dug tunnel leading to the ruins.

"Is this the tunnel they found to the ruins?" The younger spoke, sparking energy in his fingertips to light the entranceway.

"Seems like it. This definitely has to be where Charizard is."

Making their way inside the ruins, not long after, they found themselves in a long hall lit by torches, and spotted a trophied figure in the middle of it.

"Red, look!"

As they closed in on the trophy, they saw it was a four legged creature with a half grown flower on it's back.

"That's Ivysaur!" WIth an eager smile, Red pulled out an empty pokeball from his bag and threw it at the trophied figure. The ball absorbed it in a bright red light and landed back in Red's hand with a successful capture. "Perfect! That's one down."

"This is great, but why was Ivysaur here? And how did he end up as a trophy?"

"My guess is that it wandered in here and likely ran into Charizard." As if on cue, they heard the Pokemon's roar not far along the path. "Now it's time to meet it head on."

The two continued along the path, fighting off more of the creatures, now including Autolances, Armights, Shaydas and TowTows, until they came across a much wider and expansive hallway where, in the middle, rested Charizard. The moment the boys approached, the Pokemon stood up, baring it's fangs and claws with a fierce growl, the flame on the tip of its tail burning ferociuosly.

"Red!" The sight of the fierce dragon sent shivers down his spine.

He held out his hand to calm the younger boy down, "Don't worry, this is normal. If you want to earn a Pokemon's respect and partnership, you have to prove your worth and show your strength," His hand reached to his waist and grabbed his pokeball, "I've been training for this moment, and I don't plan to fail," He looked back at Lucas with a confident smirk, "You stand back and watch, buddy. I'll show you how a real Pokemon trainer fight!"

Nodding and taking a step back, Lucas watched as Red called forth his partner and fought against Charizard. Watching Red's passion and energy during the fight was a sight quite unlike any other, and though he wanted to pitch in and help, he knew that he had to stand back. He knew that Red could pull through.

And within a few moments, he claimed victory as Charizard's trophy body hit the ground.

With a victorious smile, he wasted no time as he grabbed another empty pokeball and claimed Charizard for his own. "Yes!" He held the pokeball containing his new companion in the air like a shining trophy.

Lucas smiled brightly himself and approached him, "Red, that was amazing."

He kneeled down to look directly at the boy, "Thanks, but I owe you some thanks as well. I learned quite a few tricks watching you battle. I probably wouldn't have been able to beat Charizard otherwise." He held his new companion's pokeball close to the boy, "And with its help, you'll be reunited with your friend in no time. You fulfilled your promise, now it's my turn."

The young boy felt so overwhelmed with happiness, all he could do was smile.

Standing up, Red looked at the end of the hall, where a faint light could be seen.

"We're not too far from the deepest room in these ruins. Want to take a look before we head out of here?"

"Sure."

The two continued down the hall until they entered a massive round room with stone walls that climbed out of sight, making the ceiling completely invisible.

"Whoa, this place is huge," Lucas' voice lightly echoed throughout the room.

"Just imagine the sheer amount of priceless treasure they found in this room. I could probably buy my whole region with something like that."

As the two boys took in the sight of the size of the room, they knew nothing of the danger that was soon about to fall upon them.


	15. The Wilds Part 1

Travelers in the wide open desert usually receive one of two outcomes. They either find themselves lost in the wide open plans, or they come across the a discovery unlike anything they were expecting. And for these three knights, they seem to find themselves in the middle as they explored the wide open desert with nothing but sand and scorching Sun guiding their path.

Their search for the Ancient Minister had led them out to the wide open desert, and the long journeys were already beginning to tire the three knights out. Yet the time it took them to get here gave Meta Knight plenty of time to answer all the questions he had about the prince and his mercenary friend.

"Still, hard to believe you're actually a prince, Marth."

Marth gave a gentle smile and chuckle, "Do not fret over it. You're not the first one to be fooled by my appearance. I've grown quite used to it by this point."

"So that's why you work so hard to protect him, Ike?"

"Exactly. Because of how he looks, people think they can very easily take advantage of him. And this sickens me, so, in the meantime, I'll be playing bodyguard for a bit."

"And you have no arguments for this, Marth?"

"Not at all. Aiku-kun is such a great person, and I'm glad to always have him with me," He gave his friend the brightest smile Meta Knight had ever witnessed on any human being.

The three knights continued on until they reached the edge of a rocky cliff, letting them see the entirety of the vast wide open desert, relishing in the beige sand and harsh gravel that laid throughout, the light breeze flowing through their hair and clothes.

"Kono yona kodai-sa ga myoni utsukushidesu…" Meta Knight heard the prince mutter under his breath.

Ike noticed his confusion and spoke, "Marth, you should stick to English. He barely understands a thing you're saying."

Marth noticed this and gave a nervous chuckle as he looked down at the knight, "Ah, sorry. I'm so used to being around Aiku-kun I forget others don't understand Japanese as well as he does."

"It's fine."

"Guys, take a look over there."

Catching their attention, Ike pointed into the distance of the vast desert. The could see something gliding over the land at breakneck speed. It was too far gone to make out what it was, but it seemed like a large metallic object.

"What is that?"

"Hard to say. But anything mysterious recently just proves to be a threat."

"But, how can you tell that's a threat."

"Only one way to find out," Without a second thought, Ike jumped off the edge of the cliff.

"Aiku-kun!" Marth tried to stop him, but was too late, and let out a frustrated sigh, "I wish he wasn't so reckless…"

"Hmm. Well, guess we have no choice."

Meta Knight followed after Ike, and, rather hesitantly, Marth did as well. Once all three soldiers made it down, they immediately chased after the strange object.

The knights weren't surprised to soon after run into the strange creatures, and they had no choice but to mow them down. They faced off against Primids, Buckots, Gamygas, Bytans, Trowlons, Roaders, Auroros', Mites, TowTows, Bombeds, and some new additions.

The first were creatures encased in large silver metallic tanks with a claw arm attached to the top called Armanks. The claw arm would extend out of the top and attempt to attack them. But when they destroyed the arm, the tank opened in the middle and revealed a round green two eyed body. In this state it was vulnerable to attack, but they had to make quick work before the tank closed and they had to re-destroy the arm.

The other was another new species of Primid, but the change was quick astronomical. The Primids were enormous, their foot alone the size of Ike. The withstood very powerful hits and dealt intense damage, so the three had to work together to bring them down fast.

Eventually, the three knights managed to reach the large metallic object as it stopped near a cliff edge above a strange mountain. At first it seemed lifeless and immobile, but it very quickly proved to be just as alive as they were. The object quickly morphed into a enormous half rhino half humanoid robot. It's small eyes focused on the three knights, ready to engage.

 **"ENEMIES SIGHT** **ED,"** It spoke in a dull robotic voice, deeper than the Ancient Minister's, **"ENGAGE AND ELIMINATE ENEMY TARGET."** It readied its arsenal to face the knights, **"TO PRESERVE THE REALM OF THE SUBSPACE, I, GALLEOM, WILL ELIMINATE YOU NOW."**

"I guess that answers our questions," Ike spoke out, already gripping his sword.

"And I think you know what we must do now," Meta Knight joined in and grabbed his sword as well.

"Of course," Joining in as well, Marth grabbed his sword and the three readied themselves to face Galleom.

Galleom proved to be a very fierce fighter. Its sheer size made simple punches, stomps and slams dangerous. But it's large arsenal and capabilities made it quite the versatile fighter. The three knights had to cooperate to their fullest to bring it down and keep one another safe when they proved to be in danger. And with enough work, they were able to bring the beast down to its knees, sparks beginning to resonate of its body.

**"DAMAGE LEVELS REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS...MUST EVACUATE AND ACTIVATE SELF-RESTORATION."**

With quick work, Galleom leaped off the cliff's edge, landing on the ground below leading into the mountain. But it's heavy size and the grounds aged stone caused the robot to fall through the ground and into the depths beneath it.

Ike looked down at the crumple ground below, "Where's it going?"

"I can't tell," Meta Knight answered, "But I get the feeling that it won't be good."

The knight would likely never have spoken if he knew the extent of his words truth.


	16. The Ruined Hall

The two boys felt a sudden strong rumble coming from above. Looking up, they saw a rock slide coming from the invisible ceiling above along with a large object falling right for them.

"Lucas, move!"

Grabbing the younger's hand, the two moved out of the way of the falling object as it crashed to the ground, clouding the area in smoke, dust and rubble. Once it cleared, Galleom's eyes focused on the two boys as it slowly stood up.

**"MORE ENEMY TARGETS SIGHTED...MUST ELIMINATE, FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE SUBSPACE."**

"Where did this thing come from?!"

"No idea, but I get the feeling we shouldn't let it escape," Red reached for his pokeball, "It looks like it's already been weakened. We just need to finish it off."

"Right," Lucas nodded, gathering energy in his fingertips.

Both heroes and foe wasted no time in engaging each other. Galleom fought with the same force and arsenal as before, but the damage it had accumulated from its last battle that was given no time to recover from made it unable to withstand the force of two powerful fighters in peak physical form made it quick and easy to overpower. Soon, it's body was barely sustaining itself from collapsing onto the ground, large shockwaves of energy seeping through every part of its body.

 **"** **DAMAGE...REACHING...CRITICAL LEVELS...MUST PRESERVE THE SUBSPACE,"** It focused it sights straight on the two boys, **"NOW PROCEEDING WITH EMERGENCY SELF DESTRUCT PROTOCOL."**

Galleom quickly grabbed the two boys in its giant hand, who were both squirming and struggling, as it's head opened to reveal a Subspace bomb that began to count down from 30 seconds.

"Red! It has a bomb!"

**"YOU SHALL FALL TO THE REALM OF THE SUBSPACE."**

Galleom activated the rocket jets on its back and rocketed them up through the colossal room, quickly reaching the area outside as they climbed up the side of the mountain. Lucas coughed up the dust that rushed to his face as they climbed up the room, and looked to his side, shocked to see Red passed out against Galleom's hand. Frightened and running out of options, Lucas acted quickly on his instincts.

"PK Thunder!"

A ball of electric energy flew out and Lucas guided it to hit Galleom's forearm, destroying it and setting the two boys free as the bomb exploded high within the air. Lucas could see Red's unconscious body falling to the ground below fast.

"RED!"

Angling himself to fall faster, he reached Red and grabbed him along the neck. Realizing he couldn't wake him up, he closed his eyes and braced for them to hit the ground very soon.

But that never came.

Just as he knew they were going to hit the ground, Lucas felt something grab the back of his shirt and separate him from Red. Opening his eyes, he saw a small round blue knight flying him and Red away from the explosion, holding onto both of them.

"Huh? Who-"

"Don't worry," Meta Knight answered firmly, "You both are safe now."

The three flew away from the explosion as it engulfed the mountain ruins (along with Wario's trophied body). Once Meta Knight reached the cliff he was previously on, he set the two boys down gently. The relief of barely escaping left Lucas panting for relief.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Looking up, he saw the two blue haired knights. One was kneeling down, looking at him with a soft, comforting expression. The other was standing with his arms crossed, looking confident yet calm.

"Yeah... I'm okay," Finally calming himself down, he was suddenly hit with the realization of his friends condition, "Red!" Lucas rushed to Red's side, as he was lying down on the ground, "Red! Are you okay?! Please, wake up!" Lucas was about to ready a healing spell, until he heard Red groan and saw him slightly shift.

"Red?!"

"...Hng...I'm...fine," Red slowly sat himself up on his hands, slowly trying to catch his breathe, "...That...back there...knocked the wind...right outta me…"

"I was really scared there."

"I know...I didn't think that robot would grab us...you must have been frightened…"

"Not that," Red looked at him confused, "I wasn't scared of that robot. I was scared that you got hurt," Lucas looked down, "You've been so nice to me this whole time. You've been helping me with everything since we met. If something happened to you…" He looked back at him, "I'd feel just horrible."

Hearing his words left Red speechless.

"You owe a lot to this little guy," Ike spoke up, "I saw what happened up there, and he's the reason why you're here with us as supposed to inside that."

Red looked back and saw the explosion, and when he looked back at Lucas, he was smiling, "Hey Lucas, remember what I told you after we beated that creep?"

"Stay strong and I'll be fine."

"Well...you keep being that strong, you'll be invincible. I'm really proud of you, Lucas."

Lucas smiled brightly as Red extended out his hand for him to shake. The younger boy grabbed it, but didn't have the strength to shake it. Instead, he let it go and hugged Red around his neck, to which the older wrapped his arms around his small body.

"Thank you, Red."

"You're welcome," Letting the boy go, he finally regained his strength and stood up, "Now, to fulfill my promise. Let's go find Ness."

The young boy nodded with excitement.

"Wait," Marth interrupted, "You're looking for Ness?"

The younger boy turned and looked at the prince, "You know Ness?"

"Yes, we met a few years ago. But why are you looking for him?"

"He was kidnapped."

"What?!"

Red continued, "Lucas told me he was kidnapped by the really weird freak. We ran into him and stopped him, but his friend isn't here. So he probably took him somewhere else, but we don't know what for though."

"...Sono osoroshi mujona kaibutsu! Kare no shinkei wa kodomo ni totemo zankokuna nanika o shimasu!" The prince suddenly shouted in a fit of anger, leaving everyone practically frozen, even Ike.

' _Gee, this is the first time I've seen him get upset.'_ "Marth-"

"Lucas! Red! Please come along with us!"

"Huh? Really?"

"I can't simply stand aside and let harm come to someone as innocent as Ness! So come with us, we're bound to find him faster if we work alongside each other!"

"Marth," Meta Knight interrupted, "How can you be sure that the Ancient Minister's cause even has Ness?"

"Every disaster that has been occurring recently has been at their hands. I'm certain they must be responsible for this as well," He looked back at Ike and smirked, "Besides, you said it yourself Aiku-kun. Anything suspicious that happens recently can't be good."

Ike smirked and chuckled, "Well, I can't argue when you use my own words against me." He looked back at the two boys, "You two come with us, we'll find your buddy in no time."

Red looked down at Lucas, "What do you think?"

Lucas looked up and smiled, "Are you kidding?! Of course!"

"Very well," Meta Knight answered, "Then let's get going."

Now a group of five, they all set off, hoping for the best results in their future.


	17. The Wilds Part 2

When a part of the land becomes absorbed into the realm of the Subspace, not only can it be seen, it can be felt. The rush of wind in the direction of the explosion, the rumbling of the ground and the sheer feeling of dread and danger looming in the air.

And despite being a robot, the Ancient Minister felt every sensation upon witnessing the explosion take place near the ruins, even though he was miles away from it, floating off of the ground. And knowing the cause of it, he felt himself freeze within the air as memories of the explosions he had witnessed these past few days rushed through his circuited system.

"SACRIFICES ARE NEEDED FOR THE SUBSPACE TO FLOURISH. AND YET...I HAVE WITNESSED SO MANY SO FAR. HOW MUCH MORE OF IT WILL THERE HAVE TO BE?"

Ancient Minister slowly floated away, and the few inches he moved was enough to dodge a light blue arrow shot at him. He looked behind him and saw the angel on the ground, his bow in hand.

"You didn't think you got rid of us that easily, did you?" Pit spoke confidently as the other four heroes joined his side.

"NO. I AM NOT SURPRISED THAT YOU CONTINUE TO FOLLOW ME," He put back on his usual directive when faced with enemies, "BUT I WAS TASKED TO SPREAD THE REALM OF THE SUBSPACE, AND I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO INTERFERE WITH MY DIRECTIVE."

The Ancient Minister floated away from the heroes and the five of them began to pursue after them. But not long after, the found their path blocked by the strange creatures, ready to keep them distracted. Even though there were many enemies of many species; Shellpods, Feyeshs, Bucculus', Boboras', Mites, Armites, Puppits, Tickens, Primids, Trowlons, Nagagogs, Greaps, Bytans, Spaaks and Roaders. But even with their diversity, the five heroes strength and teamwork allowed them to cut through them with ease and catch up with the Ancient Minister. Sensing them behind him, he turned and launched a laser assault on them, but they were able to feasibly dodge it. But as they neared the Ancient Minister, they found themselves stopped by the R.O.B robots.

"HALT!"

Ancient Minister looked down at the robots, surprised by their appearance, "WHY ARE YOU HERE? I DO NOT RECALL SENDING WORD FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE."

"WE SENSED THE ENEMIES APPROACHING YOU. WE CAME TO ASSIST YOU."

Before Ancient Minister could retort, he felt something latch on below him, and realized that one of the R.O.B robots was latched onto the Subspace bomb he was carrying.

"PLEASE, ALLOW US TO USE THIS."

"I CANNOT. THIS AREA HAS NOT BEEN COMMISSIONED TO BE DRAWN INTO THE SUBSPACE."

"IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE YOUR SAFETY FROM THE ENEMIES. PLEASE, ALLOW US."

Even though there was great hesitation, seeing his comrades determination and loyalty made him submit, "VERY WELL," He released the latch holding the bomb, dropping it on the ground, along with the R.O.B robot. Two other R.O.B's approached the sides of the bomb and, with an understanding nod, showed no hesitation in activating the bomb, starting the countdown.

"Mario, we gotta stop them!"

Pushing their way through the robots, Pit and Mario reached the robots attached to the bomb. The tried to separate the robots from the bomb, pulling with all their strength, but the robots didn't move a single inch. They were completely locked into the bomb and no force could possibly separate them. As they realized their efforts were futile, they felt the R.O.B robots grab them and pull them away from the other robots, throwing them to the other three heroes.

"YOUR ATTEMPTS AT RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. THE REALM OF THE SUBSPACE CANNOT BE STOPPED."

Ancient Minister slowly floated away from the area, keeping his eyes locked on the scene and watching as one of the robots waved goodbye to him, until he turned away as the bomb exploded. Though the heroes were able to escape unharmed, with the help of Yoshi and Kirby's warp star, the R.O.B robots were not so fortunate. The force and close proximity to the explosion ripped their bodies apart as they were absorbed into the dark void that stretched through the area.

And while the heroes were filled with rejuvenated determination to continue further, the robot felt a horrid wave of emotions runs through his circuited mind.

"YET ANOTHER SACRIFICE FOR THE SUBSPACE...AND ONE THAT WAS NOT MANDATORY TO OUR MISSION...I CANNOT HELP BUT SENSE THAT THIS MIGHT HAPPEN AGAIN SOON...AND I DREAD SHOULD THAT CIRCUMSTANCE BECOME REALITY..."


	18. The Swamp

The search for a friend led Fox and Diddy Kong across the land. They've gone through many locations in hopes of finding a trace of him, but to no avail. And currently, the two found themselves in a rather tranquil and calming swamp.

And while the two would love to enjoy the rather pleasant location after the exhaustion they were holding back from their long travels and the creatures they've had to be constantly fighting off, that hope was almost quickly dashed when more of them appeared in the area. Mustering up their energy, the duo readied themselves to fight the creatures.

There wasn't a large variety of creatures in their path, consisting of only Puppits, Poppants and Floows. But what caught their attention was the appearance of Bowser's minions; Goombas, Koopas, Paratroopas, Hammer Bros and Bullet Bills. After going so long without seeing any signs of Bowser's location, encountering his troops in the area gave them some hope that they were getting close to finding him. They were more than ready to face him this time and the possibility of them getting close to their objective gave them a boost of adrenaline, letting them cut through the enemies much quicker.

As the two continued on the path, they found themselves walking alongside the edge of a massive cliff overlooking the seemingly never ending ocean. Feeling himself growing anxious with excitement, Diddy moved ahead faster, leaving Fox behind.

"Hey, Diddy, wait up!"

As he tried to catch up to the young chimp, he was unfortunately unable to notice the black arrow heading for them until it impaled Diddy in the chest, knocking his now trophy body onto the ground, freezing Fox in place.

"Diddy!" Recovering from his shock, he looked in the direction the shot came from to find Bowser holding the gun in his hands, pointed at them. Seeing him practically made him growl, "You really don't know when to give up."

"And you're surprised? You should have known I wouldn't give up. And besides, now that I have one of you taken down, it'll just make things easier," He pointed over to where Diddy's trophy body was, casting Fox's attention on it, "Swarm him!"

Fox watched as the spores of the creatures enveloped Diddy's body for a few moments before floating off of it and morphing into a doppelgänger of him, his yellow tinted eyes staring at him in anger as he grabbed his peanut popguns.

"Impressed? I can imagine this reminds you of something," He casted his attention back on the Koopa King.

"Just what exactly are you planning?"

"Sorry, that's top secret. I'm just following orders from the boss."

' _Boss? Since when does Bowser work for anybody?'_

"Now, do you want to make this easy on yourself and surrender? Or would you rather me stick your little buddy on you?"

Fox looked over to the doppelgänger, looking anxious to fight him. Even though he knew it was just a fake, Fox ached at the idea of having to attack him.

"Or would you rather let me do it myself?!"

Trying to catch him off guard, Bowser fired the gun at Fox, but his quick reflexes helped him dodge the arrow shot.

"Or do you have the strength to fight off both of us?"

Fox felt his bravado fleeting him as he watched the two foes close in on him. But just as he was about to react, he heard the sound of something closing in fast.

Instantly, shots of blue green energy hit the ground between Fox and Bowser, knocking the Koopa King off balance. The source was revealed to be an Arwing heading straight for them. It turned upwards as the cockpit opened and a figure flew out of it. Landing in front of Bowser, the figure quickly kicked the gun out of his hands, knocking it into the air. The figure jumped up, pulling two pistols out of his pockets and fired them repeatedly at the gun, causing it to explode. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, the figure revealed itself to be the Star Fox pilot, Falco Lombardi.

"Falco?"

"Guess I got here right on time, eh, Fox?"

"Well, if your definition of perfect timing is right when I'm about to get jumped, then yes," He answered with serious sarcasm.

Falco huffed and ignored his friends retort before confidently glaring at Bowser, "Still think you can handle us without that tool of yours?"

Bowser growled, wanting more than anything to knock them both down, but he knew that he couldn't handle both of them without any reinforcement. But that's when he remember the doppelgänger that was standing behind the two pilots, waiting for it's order.

"I might not be able to handle you, but he is more than willing to!" Jumping back into the bushes behind him, Bowser floated up and away in his Clown Car. "Get rid of them!"

The two pilots turned around and watched as more spores swarmed around the doppelgänger, making it grow to an astronomical size.

"Guess we got our work cut out for us," Falco said, grabbing his pistols.

"No argument there," Fox rushed over to Diddy's trophy body and restored him. The chimp was barely able to re-stabilize himself before he saw the gigantic copy of himself and nearly had a heart attack. "Diddy, just stay calm and help us take him down." Calming down his friend, the three readied themselves to defeat the giant doppelgänger.

It fought exactly how Diddy did, but it's sheer unbelievable size not only made it hit three times as hard as all of them, but it was incredibly sturdy and steady, making it a tough opponent to knock off its guard. But, with enough work from the three fighters, they were able to take the behemoth down, knocking its trophy body on the ground before it disintegrated into spores.

"That takes care of that," Falco said, putting his pistols back into their holsters, "You're lucky I got here when I did."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," He remarked mockingly, "Speaking of which, why are you even here, anyway?"

"You've been practically missing for days now. We couldn't get in contact with you; it practically drove everyone crazy. So they sent me to look for you. They've been worried sick about you."

"Oh, right. Sorry about that. My Arwing got pretty beat up. Besides, I'm fine. I've been helping this little guy." Fox motioned over to Diddy, who was staring curiously at Falco.

"And who's he?" Falco asked, staring at the chimp.

"This is Diddy Kong. He's a friend of DK."

"Really. But, where is DK?"

"We don't really know. I ran into him after my Arwing crashed, and he said Bowser had attacked them and taken DK. We've been tracking him down since then."

"Hmm. Guess you've been pretty busy lately, haven't you?"

"When am I ever not?"

"Good point. Well, you can keep up the work. I'm gonna go finish your job while I'm out here," Falco turned and walked away, but not a few steps later, he felt his collar grabbed by Diddy, who pulled him pack and was pointing for him to go in the opposite direction.

Fox chuckled, "Guess he wants you to come with us."

"Well, sorry to disappoint, but we've got a job to finish. I'll see you later," He tried to walk away again, only to be grabbed again and dragged along the ground in the direction Fox and Diddy were heading.

Watching the sight of his friend getting dragged made Fox laugh in nostalgic memory, "I probably should have told you that he really doesn't take 'no' for an answer."

"I can see that," He answered sarcastically.

He shrugged, "Well, guess your with us until we find him."

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he decided to just go with it, "Fine, I'll help. Now let me go," He directed his last sentence to Diddy, who let him go upon hearing him. And with that, the three set off.

They found themselves battling more of the creatures and Bowser's minions, now also including Boboras'. Feyeshs, Primids and Giant Goombas. But with the extra addition of Falco, it made cutting through them not as difficult.

Eventually there path led them to the edge of a massive waterfall, pouring down into the endless ocean below. The spot gave them a view of the expansive ocean, and their attention was caught when Diddy started screeching and pointed out into the distance. They could see a large flying machine in the distance. They couldn't see much of it, but they were able to make out one distinct thing. The trophy of Donkey Kong, chained up to the vehicle.

Diddy was bouncing up and down with such excitement and anticipation that Fox had to stop him when he seemed like he was ready to jump off the waterfall.

"Looks like we found out target."

"And just on time too," Falco looked over to his left where the Great Fox slowly floated within their reach, leaving Fox rather surprised, "You didn't think I would come all the way out here looking for you unprepared, did you?"

"Knowing you, never. But still, this is perfect. I need you to take Diddy over to that ship and get DK out of there."

"Well, what are you going to do?"

"I got a job to finish," He spoke with a snarky smirk.

Falco couldn't help but grin at his friend's words, "Now that's more like it."


	19. The Research Facility Part 2

The bounty hunter and the Pokemon have made good progress in their search so far. After mapping out the area, Samus and Pikachu worked to reach the room keeping her suit held up. They've had to fight off many enemies along the way, as their presence wasn't unknown anymore, but their combine force helped them overcome the struggle. And keeping themselves constantly on the move made it hard for the enemies to keep up with them.

They were nearing the room that held her suit and they could tell that the enemies knew that's where they were heading, as they set up a large group near the room in hopes of stopping them in their tracks. Many varieties of R.O.B robots, Big Primids, Buckots and a new species of an existing creature.

They were a new variety of the Glunders, but these were called Glices, with blue hinges and spewed iced when they opened, capable of freezing anyone solid upon contact. But they were still as simple to defeat, though they had to be wary of its ice attack.

Taking care of all enemies in the area, the two finally reached the room and entered. Inside, the room was large and open, a large circle platform in the center of the room, the path they were standing on being the only means of reaching it, as the floor beneath them looked practically bottomless. The room was very dimly lit, the only noticeable light source coming from the lights that aligned the platform and illuminated within the capsule on the center of the platform. The two walked up to the capsule, seeing the Power Suit being held within it. But once they were on the platform, they turned around and saw the pathway that led them there retracting from them and withdrawing back into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

They were spotted.

But what walked out of the shadows to fight them is what gave them a shock.

They were dark copies of Samus' Power Suit, their bodies a dark purple and the visor on them glowed a light purple, matching the aura of the spores that made the creatures. Already knowing what needed to be done, the two stood back to back ready to fight the two copies that were closing in on them from both sides. They fought exactly as Samus did when within her suit, they copied her posture, skill and capability to an almost perfect match. Having to battle both of them on her own would have been an arduous fight, but she was lucky to have Pikachu their to assist her, making the battle much more manageable.

Eventually, they were able to defeat the two clones, their bodies fading into spores before vanishing. Having no more distractions in their way, Samus re-approached the capsule containing her suit. The sight of her beloved suit, something that had come to her aid during her entire career, now within her reach again filled her with intense relief and rejoice. But as she worked to open the capsule, Pikachu's ears perked at the sound of something moving. Looking behind it, it saw that the pathway that connected the platform and the door returning back before reconnecting. The door to the room opened, and the sight of many R.O.B robots immediately came into view.

The robots entered the room in hopes of seizing the two intruders, but the found themselves on the end of the defeat from the explosion of a fired missile. Exiting the room, Samus walked out, once again proudly within her suit. She looked down at the Pokemon walking alongside her and smiled, though it was hidden by her helmet.

"Thanks for your help," The Pokemon smiled brightly back at her, "Now, let's go. More of those should be on their way here soon.

Nodding, the two quickly made their way away from the room and through the facility, fighting off more of the robots and creatures. With access to her suits technology again, Samus was able to navigate them through the facility and in the direction of the nearest exit. They soon reached the last room standing between them and the exit, the room large, cylindrical and tall. The floor was also partially cut off along the side of the wall, a path way leading from the entrance and exit of the room.

"This should lead us out of this place," She looked down at the Pokemon as she spoke, "We're almost out of here Pikachu, just a little more, okay?" Knowing that the Pokemon was likely getting tired, she was glad to see a reassuring smile from the Pokemon. But as the two were about to continue, they heard a sudden screeching roar echo throughout the room and Samus suddenly found herself grabbed by a large clawed hand and carried into the air at blindingly fast speed. When she finally got to see her assailant, she was left shocked.

"Ridley?!" Samus tried to ready herself to strike him, but the monstrous dragon quickly responded by slamming her into the wall, crushing her between the wall and his giant claw hand, causing sparks to come off her suit. He then began to drag her along the wall like a rag doll, causing immense damage to her suit, her head knocking inside the inside of her helmet, making her focus wayne, as the monster mercilessly dragged her along the room. Having enough of watching it's friend getting tortured, Pikachu immediately took action.

"Pika **CHU!** " Summoning a massive clump of storm clouds, Pikachu struck Ridley with a lethal bolt of lightning, zapping the monster down to its core and causing him to finally drop Samus. She landed next to Pikachu, supporting herself on her knees as sparks continue to fly from her suit. The Pokemon approached Samus and rubbed her knee with it's small hands, attempting to comfort her. Seeing this, she gently patted her head.

"Thank you Pikachu," She spoke slightly panting.

Ridley's body hit the ground painfully hard, his entire body sparking from the electric shock. Shaking off the remnants of the shock from his body, Ridley stood up, faced the two and roared, ready to tear them to pieces. Samus managed to stand herself up, ready to fight. Even though she wasn't it peak physical form to fight, she wasn't going to allow him to lay a hand on Pikachu. Ridley was a tough, powerful and lethal opponent, one that no normal being would be able to withstand on their own. But with Samus' experience from fighting the creature in the past and pikachu's raw power and force, they were able to bring the beast down, sending it falling into the abyss that lies beneath the platform they were on. As Samus caught her breathe, she felt Pikachu brush against her leg, looking like it was asking her if she was okay.

Smiling, she picked up the Pokemon, "Don't worry Pikachu. I'm fine, thanks to you," Receiving a smile from the Pokemon, she headed for the exit, and within minutes, the two were outside.

The bright sunlight from the cloudless sky immediately filled their sights, the intense rays slowly subsiding to reveal the partially covered grass ruins that covered the untouched landscape of the floating isle where the facility stood. Broken structures from ancient past could be seen in the distance along with the remnants of the untouched land stretching out into the land. Seeing the pure natural land filled Samus with relief from being held within the facility for so long, and Pikachu seemed to be enjoying it as well, as it stretched out its tiny arms and took a deep breathe of the natural, untouched air.

Samus chuckled lightly, "It's sure been awhile since you've been outside, hasn't it?" The Pokemon nodded and smiled, and the two continued to enjoy the fresh air for a few moments before Samus focused her attention on the sight of their next target, an open passageway leading to a different part of the facility where two R.O.B robots were bringing out one of the Subspace bombs.

"Well, I'll be needing your help once more, Pikachu. After this, I'll be sure to make it up to you, okay?" With a nod from the Pokemon, the duo set off to finish their new mission.


	20. Outside the Ancient Ruins

As Samus and Pikachu went off for their next direction, they were unaware that they weren't the only occupants on the island. Near the outside of the ancient ruins, a R.O.B robot stood in it's rest mode, completely unaware of the many small figures on its metallic body. The small humanoid figures came in a variety of colors and were attacking the robot by pounding their tall heads against its body, the very top of their heads adorned with either leafs, half-bloomed flowers, or fully bloomed flowers. These tiny creatures were called Pikmin, and they were all being ordered by their captain to attack the sleeping R.O.B robot, though their combined efforts didn't seem to be doing much to the robot.

But once the robot booted up and felt the many small creatures upon its body, it extended its arms and quickly spun, flicking all the Pikmin off its body. Some of them were able to survive the harsh force of their fall, but most of the attacking force perished.

Seeing his massive army be whittled down to around a dozen, the leader of the Pikmin army, Captain Olimar, felt his body begin to quiver as he slowly stepped back from the robot, whose gaze was now focused on him.

' _All those Pikmin, and it doesn't look the least bit weakened. Just how do I defeat this thing?'_

Backing up, he felt something tap the side of his hip. Looking to his right, he saw one of the red Pikmin was tapping him and pointing in the opposite direction they were facing where he saw something quickly rushing towards them.

It took him a few seconds before he was able to make it out. A sleek blue race car rushing at them at lightning speed. It wasn't even driving on the ground, but rather hovering just above it. As it neared him, the glass covering the seat of the driver flew off and a figure jumped out of it as quick as it was driving, ascending into the air even higher than the R.O.B. The robot looked up at the figure and saw that it was landing directly towards it. It was able to identify the figure as a tall man in a tight blue jumpsuit, covering a muscled body, and a red helmet covering his head with a black visor covering his eyes, the only sign of his eyes were the bright triangle shaped lights on it.

"FALCON **PUNCH!** " (A/N this is the stupidest thing I've ever written, but, hey, gotta be faithful)

One of his fist burned in a blazing fire as he bunched the robot's head, the silhouette of a flaming bird could be seen as his fist made contact with the metallic body. The force of the punch knocked the robot onto the ground, it's head falling off due to the impact. The man landed on the ground, sliding against it from the force of the fall, causing him to knock into the remaining group of Pikmin and finish them off. The pose he made and his gesture made it seem like he was fine, but it left an awkward silence, as olimar found himself unable to speak.

What could he even say to break the silent tension that rang in the air thick enough it could be felt?

The man was the first to act, turning back to Olimar and walking up to him, stopping in front of him and kneeling down to look at him better.

"Are you alright?"

His deep yet calm voice gave Olimar some relief as he answered, "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the help. Uh, who are you?"

"Captain Falcon," He held his hand out to the smaller man.

"Captain Olimar," He grabbed the hand and shook, watching as the tale figure stood up.

"So, Olimar, what are you doing here? This isn't the best place for someone like you."

"Well, I was flying by on my ship, but it was running low on fuel so I had to land here. I figured I'd take a look around in the meantime, and I ran into that large robot," He looked up at the tall man, "But, may I ask, why are you here?"

"I'm trying to find someone. I thought they might be here, but I haven't had any luck finding them," He turned around and looked over his shoulder at the small man, "It's too dangerous for someone like you to be by yourself. At least stick with me in the meantime."

Olimar was a bit reluctant to follow someone he just met, but if more of those giant robots were on this island, he definitely didn't want to have to try and face one by himself. So he followed after Captain Falcon.

The two were alone for quite some time until many of the robots and creatures managed to find them. With no other choice, they had to fight their way through.

The two had to face off against many variations of R.O.B's, Shellpods, Roaders, Gamygas and Auroros'. Captain Falcon was more than able to hold his own, but was surprised to see how well Olimar was able to fight back when he had his Pikmin at his side. Maybe he wasn't as defenceless as he thought.

The two continued on and came to an edge of the island. The edge was built like a cliff and the vast ocean can be seen below. Upon the wide view, they caught sight of the flying machine that held the trophy of Donkey Kong chained on top of it. And another smaller airship was seen flying towards it at breakneck speed.

Inside the Arwing, Falco sat in the seat piloting will Diddy sat next to him, though the lack of space inside the cockpit made him mostly press against the glass.

"Just a bit more!" Falco calmed his squirming down as he now flew over the other ship. Turning the Arwing upside down he shouted "NOW!" Before opening the cockpit and sent Diddy out. The chimp immediately activated his rocketbarrel pack and lifted himself, grabbing his two peanut popguns and shooting them down onto the ship, knocking the Primids that had been standing on top and sending them to the ocean below.

The two captains watched the scene from where they stood.

"What's going on down there?" Olimar asked as he observed.

"Not too sure, but they could use a hand," He reached down and grabbed the small captain, "Hold on."

Olimar yelped as Captain Falcon suddenly jumped off the edge, the rush of wind against him sent him chills. Back on the ship, Diddy saw it was safe and landed on the ship, then quickly reached to Donkey Kong and touched the golden base of his trophy. The bright light of his restoration covered him as he broke effortlessly through the chains binding him, then proceeded to pound on his chest as he yelled. Diddy heard as the two captains landed on the ship behind him, Captain Falcon standing proudly as Olimar took this moment to catch his breath from the exhilaration of the fall. But the moment was stopped when more of the creatures came from the sides of the ship, and the four readied themselves to fend them off.

They were attacked by Primids, Trowlons, Bombeds, Shaydas', Spaaks and Metal Primids. But their combined strength along with DK's strength allowed them to take them down until they stopped appearing from the ship.

Now safe, Donkey kong and Diddy were finally able to celebrate, relieved to be together once more and seeing the other safe. The sound of the Arwing passing by caught Diddy's attention, and from the inside of the cockpit, he could see Falco giving him a thumbs up, as if to say 'Nice work', before the Arwing flew off into the sky. Diddy waved goodbye to his friend until Captain Falcon's voice caught his attention, "Hey, take a look."

They saw that the ship was coming to a stop, entering a small opening along the side of the island. They were heading into the center of their base.


	21. The Glacial Peak

The search for the Halberd ship had led the three soldiers and the two young boys quite a distance. But they had finally managed to find it still motionless the sky. It was above a large snow covered mountain, the mass of red clouds surrounding it as usual. But they were surprised to find another ship not too far in front of it. Marth recognized it to be the Great Fox, the ship that Fox and Falco had told him about. It was firing an endless barrage of green missiles and lasers at the Halberd, which was firing back with it own artillery, though the Great Fox had a large shield to block off it's attacks. The five witnessed the scene happening above from the base of the snowy mountain.

"So, Meta Knight, that's your stolen ship?" Lucas asked.

"Yes. This might be my one chance," He took a few steps forward, spreading his wings before he looked back at them, "I'm going to see if I can infiltrate it. Stay here in case something happens."

"Okay. Be careful," The prince answered.

"You too," The knight spoke before he took off, flying up the side of the mountain that was mostly untouched by the snow. His wings allowed him to climb much faster.

As he climbed the mountain, he came to a stop, landing on one of the rock trails, when he saw something. He noticed two small figures climbing the mountain at a fast pace. They both looked young and were covered in thick, warm clothing, one in a light blue color and the other a bright pink. They were effortlessly scaling the mountain and didn't even seem to be aware of the situation that was occurring above. Not wanting to focus too much on that, he continued to scale up the mountain.

The two young climbers came to a stop on a rocky edge, the young girl pulling her friend up and giving him a smile.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks!"

The two were interrupted upon seeing the small round knight climbing up the mountain with his wings helping him, letting him pass by them effortlessly.

"Whoa, that guy was fast!"

The boy looked to his friend, "Well, let's catch up to him and show just how good we are!"

She nodded and the two followed after Meta Knight, quickly able to catch up to him.

"HI THERE!"

Meta Knight nearly stumbled at the sudden set of voices and looked to his side to see the pair of climbers, who were easily keeping up with him.

"Who are you two?"

"I'm Popo," The boy answered.

"I'm Nana," The girl answered.

"We're the Ice climbers!" The two answered together.

Meta Knight stopped on one of the paths and the two climbers stopped next to him.

"Who are you, mister?"

"Meta Knight."

"Hi, Meta Knight. What are you doing h-"

"CAREFUL!"

The knight suddenly pushed the two aside and slashed his sword fast enough to cut through a Primid that was charging for the two climbers, defeating it upon impact.

"W-What was that?!" Nana asked, pulling her friend up.

He looked to the duo, "So you don't seem to know. Take a look up."

The duo looked up the mountain, seeing the two ships fighting within the air above the mountain.

"Huh? What's going on up there?"

"They're trying to take down my ship, but I have to get to them before they can get away. This could be my only chance to get it back."

"Someone stole your ship?" The question was met with the knights nod.

"Well, then let us help you, Meta Knight. We're expert climbers, we can take you up the mountain in a flash."

"I don't know. I don't want to bring you two into danger. Those monsters are nothing to be careless around."

"Don't worry," The duo pulled out two wooden hammers, "We're always prepared for anything."

Seeing their determination, he nodded, "Very well, but stay close."

The three climbed up the mountain together, the Ice Climbers expertise making the journey much easier, even with the creatures that relentlessly attacked them throughout the trip. Primids, Shellpods, Bucculus', Poppants, Tickens, Floows, Metal Primids, Glices, Shaydas, Spaaks and Towtows blocked their path, but the three were able to fight against them as they scaled the mountain, reaching the snow covered land until they eventually made it to the top clearing.

The Ice Climbers reached the clearing first, jumping up and down in joy, "Yeah! We made it!"

Meta Knight reached the clearing as well and looked at the duo, "Thanks for the help. I should be fine now."

"Wait! What's that?"

Popo pointed up and Meta Knight followed his gaze. On the very top of the pointed mountain was a figure, standing on one leg on the tip effortlessly. It was a humanoid figure covered in dark blue fur, low hanging ties fell from its head and a tail lightly swayed now and then. It's chest and back of both hands exposed long spikes and its eyes were currently closed. Once it seemed to take notice of their presence, it opened its eyes and stared down at them.

" _You, knight who has made it thus far,"_ It spoke in a rather deep male voice, even though it didn't open its mouth, likely speaking through telepathy.

"Are you speaking to me?" Meta knight asked, seeing it was staring particularly at him.

" _Answer me this. The ship above us, that belongs to you, does it not?"_

"Yes, it does."

" _Then you surely know of all the damage and suffering your contraption has caused to this world. How much it has upset the balance of nature and life."_

He was taken off guard, "What? I've done nothing wrong."

" _Then you dare to deny your crimes against us? Very well,"_ The figure jumped from the spire and landed in front of him, its hand beginning to glow in what seemed like a light flame, _"Then I will be forced to unleash the rage you have caused to this world."_

"What?! Just who are you?"

" _I am Lucario. And your reign of terror against this world will end now."_

Knowing that there was no way of reasoning with the being, Meta Knight gripped his sword and readied himself. Popo and Nana both gulped in unison at watching the two. They wanted to intervene, but couldn't find the right words to stop them, and watched as the two began to fight.

Meta knight fought with all his strength, but he had to remain on guard fighting against someone he had no knowledge of. Lucario was a skilled and powerful fighter, and Meta Knight found himself being caught off guard from his opponents unpredictability. And perhaps it was just his exhaustion, but Meta Knight could have sworn that with each passing moment and every time he landed a hit on his opponent that Lucario was growing stronger. This came to be Meta Knight's undoing, as with a powerful blast of energy from Lucario's hands, it was all he could take until his trophied body fell on the snow covered ground. Seeing that it was over, Lucario stood up, strong and proud.

" _It is done."_

"Um...sir?"

The voice of the climbers, who had been silent until this point caught Lucario's attention.

" _I am no 'sir', I am a Pokemon."_

"Sorry. But, mister Pokemon, did you really have to fight him?"

" _It was an obligation. He has caused this realm so much destruction from his ship, I had no choice but to stop his reign of terror."_

"But he didn't do anything wrong!" Nana suddenly shouted, "He was trying to get back to his ship, he said someone stole it from him. Besides, he saved me and Popo while we climbed the mountain. If he really is a bad person, he wouldn't want to keep us safe."

The Pokemon stared at them, unphased, _"Do you truly believe this man to be of pure heart and intention?"_

"We're sure!"

Seeing how strong they spoke, Lucario closed his eyes and the Ice Climbers watched as the ties hanging off his head slowly lifted, hanging horizontally next to his head. Lucario saw the bright pure blue light that covered the two climbers, and looking over to the trophied Meta Knight, the same pure blue light was surrounding his body as well. Opening his eyes, he slowly walked to the trophied figure, contemplating for a moment before he touched the golden base and restored him. Meta Knight slowly sat up and looked at the two climbers and the Pokemon.

"Are you okay, Meta Knight?"

"I'm fine," He looked confused at Lucario, "Why did you restore me?"

" _It seems I have misjudged you. With the damage your ship has caused to this land, I assumed your intentions were just as cruel. But, your soul is pure and your intentions harmless. For that, I apologize."_

He was taken off guard by the sudden change in mood from the Pokemon and watched as he extended his hand to him. Meta Knight took a moment before he reached to grab it.

"Guys!"

Popo interrupted them and pointed to the sky. At some point during the fight, the Halberd had gotten the upper hand and was able to grab the Great Fox with the latches of the clawed arms, pulling the smaller ship beneath it, pulling it along before slamming it into the side of the mountain. The rumbling of the impact made it hard for the four to stand, but Lucario grabbed Meta Knight's arm.

" _If you want to board your stolen ship, now is your chance."_

Meta Knight nodded and the two moved quick to climb the Great Fox up to the Halberd, as the rumbling caused Popo and Nana to fall off the edge to the ground below.


	22. The Canyon

The four at the bottom of the mountain watched as the Halberd slammed the Great Fox into the side of the mountain, crumbled pieces of rock falling off the side to below, causing the four to have to step back. But along with the falling rocks, two small figure landed hard on the ground.

"Hey, are you two alright?!" Lucas rushed up to the ice climbers, helping them stand up as they groaned.

"I think I'm fine. Nana?"

"I'm okay, too."

Marth's eyes widened at seeing the two young climbers, "Popo-san? Nana-san?"

The two looked at the prince and smiled brightly, "Prince Marth!"

He bent down to embrace the two in a hug, "I'm glad you're both okay. But, tell me, what happened to Meta Knight?"

"I think I saw him board his ship before we fell. I think that weird Pokemon went with him to."

"A weird Pokemon?" Red asked.

"Yeah, he said he was a Lucario."

"Lucario? I've never heard of a Pokemon called that. But why was a Lucario on that mountain?"

"Not sure, but that's out of our control now. Besides, we have bigger issues to worry about."

Ike caught their attention and they saw, from the Halberd, that the spores were raining down the mountain side, pooling onto the ground as the creatures emerged from it at a frightening pace. They quickly readied themselves as they fended off the creatures, their large numbers causing them to remain on their guard. But from one of the rocky hills closeby, five others could see the event happening. Mario, Kirby, Pit, Link and Yoshi could see the creatures continuing to spawn and spread out further than the others could handle.

"Mario, we have to go help them!" Pit spoke, "There's too many of those things down there."

"You're right, let's go!"

The five wasted no time as they jumped down the hill and rushed to the vast number of creatures. There were a large variety of them to face; Primids, Feyeshs, Armights, Big Primids, Fire Primids, Puppits, Glires and Rotturets. But the strength of the five allowed them to take out a majority of the creatures, giving the others less to worry about. Once the last of the creatures had been defeated, the five joined up with the others.

Mario immediately noticed some of his old friends, "Marth. Popo, Nana."

"Mario!" The two climbers rushed to Mario and embraced him, "Link, Kirby, even Yoshi! You're all here!" They took notice of the angel, "Who are you, mister?"

"I'm Pit."

"Nice to meet you, Pit!"

The angel smiled down at them before stepping forward, looking up at the Halberd, which was beginning its departure and had released the Great Fox, "That's the ship!"

"Were you all looking for it as well?" He looked over to the prince as he spoke.

"Yeah. that's ship has been causing a whole lot of trouble, so we've been trying to find it to bring it down."

The prince smiled at him, "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. Meta Knight managed to return to the ship, he should be able to stop it."

Kirby perked up at hearing that name. Mario looked over to him, "What is it, Kirby?" He explained to him, "Huh? Meta Knight is the one who owns that ship?"

"But I don't get it," Pit spoke, "If that was his ship, why was he trying to get back to it?"

"It's a long story," The mercenary spoke, "If you want to know everything, come with us. There's no need for us to stay here any longer."

Seeing the ship fly away, the large group set off, hoping that now things would calm down a bit.


End file.
